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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25009504">They Say Keep Your Friends Close But You're Closer</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/typicalaveragefangirl/pseuds/typicalaveragefangirl'>typicalaveragefangirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, also sort of, but also Mutual Denial</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:29:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>32,183</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25009504</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/typicalaveragefangirl/pseuds/typicalaveragefangirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Max Richman, she wrote... Is it too early to say enemy for life? </p>
<p>basically, I saw a tweet recently that said something along the lines of: </p>
<p>★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ <br/>best friends to lovers trope</p>
<p>★ ★ ★ ★ ★<br/>enemies to friends to lovers trope </p>
<p>and this is the brain child that came from it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Zoey Clarke &amp; Max Richman, Zoey Clarke/Max Richman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>203</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>91</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Day One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Special thanks to the Clarkeman Nation discord babes (especially betas extraordinaire gwritesforfun &amp; AubreyRichman!!!)  </p>
<p>This chapter takes place on Zoey's first day at SPRQ Point, so no heartsongs yet, but those will come later—promise!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Zoey Clarke poured herself a large glass of wine, took a sip, and then poured a little more. She grabbed the glass and flopped down onto the couch in her new apartment. After graduating from UCLA last spring, she had moved back in with her parents for a couple of months but when she got offered her dream job at SPRQ Point (along with a nice compsci salary), Zoey had signed a lease for a cute one bedroom apartment just a few blocks from the office. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which left her sitting in a living room cluttered with boxes full of old textbooks and the childhood toys that she had decided deserved to make the move with her; Zoey knew she should continue unpacking, but grabbed for her journal and a pen instead. She wanted to document her first day at work so that she would be able to look back at it for years to come. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey looked at what she had jotted down during her afternoon break. Her journal read, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wow, I can’t believe I get to work at SPRQ Point with all these incredibly smart, talented, and impressive men. Please don’t say anything stupid. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Zoey took another big gulp of wine and ticked through the coworkers she had met today as she started writing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Andy Howard is super cool and already seems to know the answer to every single problem? I don’t know how he does it. And Chin Wu! I am aware this is totally not the point, but dude is </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>hot as hell</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>… maybe I should get with that? JP Feecan seems to be shy and smart, aka my kind of man. Kane Bishop is even more socially awkward than I am, so I’m going to take the win.  </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she continued drinking her wine, her handwriting got a little looser and her feelings a little more honest. Zoey thought about the people who had made the biggest impact on her first day. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Has there ever been a bigger genius than Leif Donnelly? I’m intimidated to even be in the same room as him and his dope cardigans</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she wrote,</span>
  <em>
    <span> And Tobin Batra—this dude is a legend in the hacking community and now he actually knows my name? I think I might be dreaming. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And speaking of dreaming: Joan! Bennett! My boss is intimidating as hell, but in like.. The Best</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>™</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span> way possible</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Zoey continued. She sighed and took another sip of her wine before starting to write again. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I know that this is supposed to be my first big girl job, but she makes me feel like a child… so note to self: Buy some more collared shirts. You are going to need some more collared shirts. She is kind of? Like, exactly who I wanted to be when I grew up, So anyway... I think she is really going to push me to be a better coder; I think I’m going to learn a lot from her. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey smiled at what she had written, and smiled remembering her first day; even with her social anxiety and awkward tendencies, Zoey knew this was the place she was meant to be. But then she remembered the one part of her day she’d tried to block out and one last thing she had to document. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Max Richman</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she wrote. The man who had—she was pretty sure purposely—spilled an entire cup of coffee down the front of her shirt when he had “slipped” only minutes after she’d fixed a problem he had created during their training program. She glanced over to the blouse she’d thrown on the floor when she’d run home to change earlier. That was definitely going to be stained. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Is it too early to say enemy for life? </span>
  </em>
  <span>She wrote in a heavy hand, flipping the journal shut and draining the rest of her glass of wine.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Max Richman cracked open a can of beer he’d picked up on his way home from work at the brewery down the street from his new apartment. He took a long drink and sighed as he sat on his new couch. He knew he should continue unpacking, but right now the only thing he really wanted to do was sit with his new kitty, Oliver, and try to forget the disaster that was his first day at SPRQ Point. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I really fucked up today, Olz,” Max said as his cat jumped onto his lap, demanding pets. Not only had he messed up his part of the orientation program, he’d made a fool of himself in front of his new coworkers too. Max closed his eyes and saw the events of the day play out behind his dark eyelids. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How his new coworker, a smart woman named Zoey who’d said she grew up in the area and had just returned from UCLA where she graduated top of her class, had found an error in his code. How he’d been so impressed with her ability to spot his problem so quickly and had tried to grab them a couple cups of coffee to show her there were no hard feelings. How he’d tripped on his new dress shoes just before he reached her desk and spilled the coffee all over her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How he’d tried to apologize, but fumbled over his words until she had—rightfully—told him off for having appeared to do so on purpose. How two of his other coworkers had rushed to her side and helped her, and then spent the afternoon giving him stink eyes any time they were in the same vicinity. Max finished his first beer and grabbed a second, and then spent the rest of his night trying to figure out how he might make everything better. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. SPRQaversary</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>On their one year workaversary, Zoey, Tobin, and Leif go out for a drink to celebrate and run into the rest of their coworkers.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Cheers!” Zoey said, clinking her fruity, sour beer to Tobin and Leif’s IPAs. The two roommates had made a lot of progress over the course of the last year, but convincing Zoey about the magic of bitter beer was one battle they weren’t sure they’d ever win. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t believe we’ve already been working together for an entire year!” Leif said as he took a drink. During the last 365 days, Tobin, Leif, and Zoey had quickly transitioned from friendly coworkers to “friends” who really only talked about work, and then to actual friends who talked about all of the things most people would never want their coworkers to know. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin and Leif knew about the time Zoey had needed stitches after accidentally biting through her bottom lip the first (and subsequently only) time she tried shrooms. Tobin had told Zoey all about his time in prison. Leif had confessed he had run a Charlie and Joan fanpage on tumblr with thousands of followers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just think,” Zoey said wistfully, “a year ago you guys saved me when Maximum Misogynist threw his cup of coffee all over me after I’d fixed his problem during orientation.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif laughed as Tobin said, “I will never, in all of my life, forget the look on your face when The Bastard of SPRQfell drenched your shirt.” He did his best impersonation of Zoey’s angry face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And then the way you told him off! What was it you called him?” Leif asked, “a sad, strange little man who needed to get his abnormally large head out of his asshole and realize being a man meant lifting up powerful women instead of throwing boiling liquid at them?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Something like that,” Zoey said, a little embarrassed hearing her words repeated as she thought back to that day. She thought about how she’d spent most of that morning next to Max, trying to be friendly. Growing up interested in STEM, Zoey knew how to stand her ground around tech bros who thought they knew better simply because of the second head between their legs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But there was something earnest in Max Richman’s eyes—something she now knew had to be a ruse—that had made it hurt even more when he’d turned out to be just another man with a plan to take down any woman who threatened him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I slacked my main man </span>
  <em>
    <span>immediately</span>
  </em>
  <span> and told him we had to befriend you,” Tobin said with a smile, bringing Zoey back to the conversation, “it was my first glance at all the sass and spunk we love so much that you try so hard to hide under your pantsuit demeanor.”  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I guess I have to be thankful, then,” Zoey said,  “Because even though I have to see the capital-D Douchebag </span>
  <em>
    <span>every single day</span>
  </em>
  <span>, I can’t be mad it happened because when you guys covered for me so I could run home and change I knew we’d become besties.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As if complaining about him had summoned his evil spirit, Max appeared next to them at the bar. “To what do I owe the pleasure of running into the three musketeers?” Max said with a phony grin plastered across his face as he ordered a beer. He said “the three musketeers” as if it were an insult, but Zoey, Tobin, and Leif wore the nickname the entire office had given them like badges of honor. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re celebrating the deeply personal, lifelong friendships we’ve made over the last year at SPRQ Point,” Leif said with an equally phony smirk that might look real if you didn’t know him as well as Tobin and Zoey did. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What about you?” Tobin picked up after Leif finished, “Out for a little pregame before going to ruin a small child’s birthday party? Or is it steal-a-seeing-eye-dog-from-a-veteran-night already?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey smiled. It felt good knowing that Tobin and Leif had her back through and through; even if they hadn’t hated Max on their own, they certainly had jumped on board her hate train over the last year. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m actually more of a cat guy,” Max said as a few of their other coworkers joined the small group forming around the bar. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Andy Howard must’ve heard Tobin’s question because he said, “Actually, hope you don’t mind but I heard you guys talking about your plans to come here tonight, so I invited everybody else. I have some news I wanted to share with you all!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everyone gathered in a small circle around him and Max was shuffled so that he was standing uncomfortably close to Zoey. “Are you pregnant?” Tobin asked Andy sarcastically. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey didn’t actually have anything against Andy, but he tended to sit with Max at lunch, so he was not exactly to be trusted. Andy laughed and said, “Nope! I actually accepted a position with Google, so next Friday is my last day at SPRQ Point.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everybody started congratulating Andy, but Max nor Zoey said anything. She was sitting on a bar stool, so he towered over her even more than normal, and she felt his eyes staring down at her. Zoey reluctantly brought her eyes up to meet his and said, “Any chance you’re going to make all my dreams come true and leave too, Richman?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max laughed, took a long pull of his beer, and then a slow smile spread across his face. “Oh, Clarke,” he said, “I’ll be sure to make all your dreams come true, but I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.” </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Team Bonding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The team plays laser tag.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Gather around,” Joan snapped as she approached the coder’s bullpen. Max jumped up and quickly headed towards the stairs, sitting down in his favorite spot on the left side; last week he’d taken his sweet time finding a spot and ended up having to sit next to the three musketeers, so he wasn’t planning on making that mistake again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maxwell Richman had made plenty of mistakes once, but if the last few years at SPRQ Point had taught him anything it was to never make the same mistake twice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“As some of you may know,” Joan started, “JP had… a bit of an, uh, incident last week.” An incident is putting it nicely, Max noted mentally; JP had had a full out nervous breakdown at the frozen yogurt bar after realizing Tobin had taken the last of the fresh strawberries. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max was more than happy to place blame on Tobin when he deserved it, but he’d noticed Tobin looked a little guilty at the mention of the JP and actually felt bad for the guy. It’s not like the strawberries were the actual problem, it was just the straw that broke the overworked coder’s back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, while this is quite literally the last thing I’d like to spend my day doing, Susan from HR has ordered our team to… bond,” Joan said as if the word ‘bond’ physically pained her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tomorrow we will be going to Laser Quest for some work sanctioned fun,” she continued, “because if I have to hang out with a bunch of people who were in elementary school when Brandy &amp; Monica performed on the VMAs, I am going to do so in a location where it is legal for me to shoot you.” </span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>“I’ll just run home and grab my car, no big deal!” Zoey said the next day as she, Tobin, and Leif piled into the elevator behind Max. After spending the morning fixing a few last minute problems at work, Joan’s team was off to Laser Quest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You all are welcome to ride with me,” Max said with a soft smile, knowing he’d be shot down immediately. Despite the fact that their rivalry had somehow reached even higher heights recently, Max was trying his best to remain friendly to Zoey and her friends—at least on the outside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We, uh, Tobin and I are going right home from Laser Quest so we’ve got to ride our bikes,” Leif said quietly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max would never admit it to another human (though he and Oliver had had many in depth conversations on the topic), but Zoey took up more than her fair share of rent-free space in his mind. Years ago, that space was taken up as he’d tried to find ways to apologize for spilling coffee all over her on their first day; at some point, though, he’d given up hope of reconciling whatever glimpse of friendship he’d briefly seen before the coffee incident. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The problem was, Zoey was still on his mind more than anybody else, so recently he’d decided that being nice to her on the surface would allow for the sneak attack that he’d eventually use to take her down. There were rumors Joan had a promotion in the works, and Max was going to beat all three of his elevator companions out if it was the last thing he did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks for the offer though, bro” Tobin added awkwardly after a moment of silence that lasted much longer than was comfortable. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No problem, man,” Max said, “Zoey?” He watched her eyes dart to her friends, basically pleading for any valid excuse to not ride with him. “Uh, sure,” she finally said to his surprise, “That’d be great. Thank you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they exited the office building, Tobin and Leif got on their bikes and headed off with a quick wave. Max led Zoey down the street to where his car was parked. When he opened his door, she stopped in her tracks. “What, do you expect me to open your door for you, Clarke?” Max asked, “It’s not like this is a date. Just trying to do my part to save the planet.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She crossed to his car and said, “I just didn’t expect you to drive an Audi, that’s all,” as she got in the passenger seat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ride to Laser Quest felt like a million years. In reality, it was probably only the quick fifteen minutes Google Maps had suggested, though, Max couldn’t be sure. They were the first two to arrive, so they sat awkwardly in the entrance waiting for anybody else to show up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max couldn’t stop his eyes from landing on Zoey every few seconds, and eventually she met his gaze and said, “What?” He didn’t have an answer ready—he didn’t even know why he kept looking at her—but luckily, Tobin and Leif walked in at that moment and he was spared having to answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rest of their coworkers quickly followed. Joan was the last to arrive, pulling her sunglasses off and tossing them in her purse as she walked through the door and said “Let’s get this team bonding over with so we can all get the hell out of here.” An overly chipper Laser Quest worker split them into two teams: Joan, Max, Tobin, Kane, Andrew, and Logan against Zoey, Leif, Zak, Billy, Aaron, and Sam. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max picked off both Zak and Aaron within the first few minutes of play and was feeling pretty good about himself until he saw Leif out of the corner of his eye; Max definitely would’ve been out had Tobin not dove in front of him just as Leif fired his laser gun. “Tobes, no!!” Leif shouted when he saw what was happening, which gave Max just enough time to aim his gun at Leif as he saw Tobin’s vest light up with a giant red X. Why Tobin had sacrificed himself to save him, Max didn’t know, but he did know that he had to keep moving and secure the win for his team. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After about twenty minutes of gameplay, there were only three remaining: Joan (who’d been sitting in the back corner unbothered—nobody wanted to be the one to “kill” Joan—the entire time), Max, and Zoey (who was now hunkered down hiding from her competitors). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Joan, do something to distract her!” Max whispered as he ran by his boss around to the back of the room. He waited until Joan eventually started shouting about firing Zoey if she didn’t come out. Max spotted red curls, attached to the timid body of an overachiever clearly intrigued by Joan’s words. Max snuck up behind her and plucked the gun out of her hand, throwing it behind him as she shrieked in surprise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she turned to face him, Max pointed his gun against the vest that was across Zoey’s chest and smirked at her. She looked up at him and for a split second he almost forgot what he was supposed to be doing. But then he fired the winning shot and his teammates, excluding Joan of course, ran to him cheering in victory. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tobin bent over and tried to throw Max over his shoulders, but failed miserably and settled for throwing his arm around Max’s shoulder as he started singing “We Are the Champions” in a surprisingly good voice. Max wasn’t big on how touchy-feely Tobin was, but the look on Zoey’s face as she watched, and then muttered “traitor” when Tobin rejoined her and Leif, was enough to put a smile on Max’s face.  </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. If you're worried about it, go get an MRI</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A different take on the pilot! Basically, just assume anything that isn't explicitly stated as non-canon follows along with the show (so Zoey still gets her power during the earthquake, still confides in Mo, etc.)</p>
<p>Zoey and Max run into each other at the Golden Gate Grind and walk back to work together. Also meaning this will likely be the last heartsong-less chapter. I got a little long winded, so enjoy!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Hey Autumn!” Zoey said, greeting her favorite barista at the Golden Gate Grind with a smile. She’d gotten up early to go see her dad before work, and had just enough time to stop for coffee before heading into the office. “I’ll have the usual, and also an Americano for Leif and-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And a large macchiato for Tobin” Autumn finished, returning Zoey’s smile. Zoey paid for the drinks, and stepped aside as Autumn prepared the drinks; she pulled out her phone, sending a quick text off to the group chat with Tobin and Leif to let them know she would have their coffee waiting for them at work. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The bell on the door chimed as a gust of wind blew Zoey’s hair forward into her face at the same time Autumn called her name. “Here you go!” Autumn said, handing Zoey her drink and a cardboard drink carrier with the other two. Her face broke into an even bigger smile when she added, “Oh hey, Maxie!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey almost spit out the sip she had just taken of her latte when she saw Maxwell Richman lean across the counter and give Autumn a kiss. That had to be some kind of health code violation, right? “Max, this is my friend, Zoey,” Autumn said as she started preparing what Zoey knew was Max’s plain black coffee. Just</span>
  <em>
    <span> why</span>
  </em>
  <span> Zoey knew his coffee order, she wasn’t sure. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max put the fakest smile Zoey had ever seen across his face as he said, “actually Zoey and I work together at SPRQ Point.” How was this monster dating the sweetest, smileyest person Zoey had ever met? </span>
  <em>
    <span>How?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What! No way!” Autumn squealed as she handed Max his coffee, “how did I not know that my two favorite customers worked together? That is so great! Does that mean you know Tobin and Leif too?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Despite being a few feet away from him, Zoey could physically feel Max’s discomfort as he said, “Yep, sure do. We all started at SPRQ Point on the same day.” Autumn squealed again, clearly genuinely happy with the latest development and oblivious to the tension between the other two; Zoey wasn’t sure how she managed to be so ecstatic about </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but it wasn’t quite as endearing during this conversation as she normally found it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before Autumn had the chance to do something like suggest they all hang out, Zoey said, “Well, I should get the guys their coffee before it gets cold! Have a nice day, Autumn.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Autumn leaned over the counter, giving Max another kiss and said, “you guys have a good day too!” When Max pulled away from his girlfriend—seriously, how did she not know that Max had a </span>
  <em>
    <span>girlfriend?</span>
  </em>
  <span>—he and Zoey looked at each other and they realized Autumn expected them to walk to work together at the same time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I, uh, can be a few minutes late to work if you have time for a quick breakfast date,” Max said with an uneasy smile. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey watched as Autumn looked between him and the long line that was forming behind them as a rush of people stopped in on their way to work. “Sorry, baby,” she said, “I don’t think I can get away now. Want to stop down for lunch instead?” Max nodded, and then reluctantly turned to start walking toward the door with Zoey. He opened the door for her and she gave him a quick smile and nod of the head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They walked side by side in silence for a few moments before both attempting to start small talk at the same time. SPRQ point was only a couple of blocks from Golden Gate Grind, but it was the longest walk of Zoey’s (albeit pretty sedentary) life. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You go,” Max said after another few seconds of silence, neither of them wanting to interrupt the other again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was just going to ask how long you and Autumn had been together?” Zoey asked, unwilling to admit even to herself why she cared how long he’d been with Autumn. When Max didn’t answer immediately, Zoey awkwardly added “She’s, uh, great.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ve only been on a few dates,” Max answered, “but yeah, she is great. Is it so hard for you to believe that I’d be with somebody great?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, it’s not that!” Zoey answered quickly, and to her surprise, honestly. Despite her on-going strife with Max, she had to admit that he was extremely intelligent. And if she was being really honest—like four shots of tequila later honest—he was an objectively attractive guy. If you were into the whole ‘I am better than you at just about everything and I know it’ thing, anyway. “I just meant… that um,” Zoey struggled to find the right words but finally landed on, “I just meant that Autumn is very… </span>
  <em>
    <span>free-spirited</span>
  </em>
  <span> and you’re, uh, not.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh yeah?” Max said with an infuriating smirk on his face, “You think so? Didn’t know you paid such close attention.” Zoey could feel herself flushing when she saw his smirk. How had she managed to get herself into this conversation? The morning had started off so pleasantly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luckily, they’d reached SPRQ Point and the conversation reached a natural ending as Max pulled out his ID card and buzzed them into the busy lobby. They both said good morning to people they knew and piled into an elevator that stopped to let a few people off on the second and then third floor, leaving them alone again as it came to a stop on their floor. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just as the elevator began to open, Max stepped in front of Zoey and blocked her way into the office. “Oh, and Zoey,” he said, “I have </span>
  <em>
    <span>plenty</span>
  </em>
  <span> of spirit, you just don’t want to see it.” He turned on his heel before she could respond, walking into the bullpen. Zoey knew her face was flushed, but tried to ignore it as she dropped Tobin and Leif’s coffees off at their desks. The first thing Zoey did when she got to her desk was pull up the Three Musketeer slack chat. </span>
</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p><b>Zoey Clarke</b> <span>8:07AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT THOSE COFFEES COST ME THIS MORNING</span>
  </p>
  <p><b>Tobin Batra</b> <span>8:08AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>Your dignity? </span>
  </p>
  <p><b>Leif Donnelly</b> <span>8:08AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>Jeez, Zo, we can pay you back if it’s going to cause all caps before I have a chance to drink said coffee</span>
  </p>
  <p><b>Tobin Batra</b> <span>8:10AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>The suspense is killin’ me, smalls!!!</span>
  </p>
  <p><b>Zoey Clarke</b> <span>8:11AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>So, I was at GGG getting the coffees from Autumn, right? And I was about to leave on my merry way when McMeh showed up and KISSED her. And Autumn, being her assuming-the-best-in-everyone self basically forced us to walk back to work together. And for some reason I tried to ask him about how long they’d been dating which somehow turned into him cornering me in the elevator to tell me that I don’t </span>
    <em>
      <span>really</span>
    </em>
    <span> know him. So yes, Tobes, these coffees did cost me my dignity. And no amount of dollars you guys would give me could ever truly make up for the emotional trauma that was this morning. You’re welcome. </span>
  </p>
  <p><b>Tobin Batra</b> <span>8:11AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>HAHAHAHAHAHAHA </span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span>Ooops, sorry. That was insensitive.</span>
  </p>
  <p>
    <span>What I meant was daaaaamn. Autumn’s coffee is much too good for that SOMILF</span>
  </p>
  <p><b>Leif Donnelly</b> <span>8:12AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>Oof, that’s rough. We can take you out for lunch to start paying our penance! That Thai place down the street?</span>
  </p>
  <p><b>Tobin Batra</b> <span>8:12 AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>(By the way, I’m trying out SOMILF: Son of Mom I’d Like to Fuck. How do we feel about that nickname? Should I add it to the list?) </span>
  </p>
  <p><b>Zoey Clarke</b> <span>8:13AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>Sorry, the nickname and lunch are both a no from me. I’ve got that MRI in a couple hours! </span>
  </p>
</blockquote>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The One Where Zoey Takes An L</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Zoey, Max, and the rest of the team attempt to solve a bug with the SPRQ Watch's health app. </p>
<p>Heartsong: 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Isn’t 50/20 low?” Tobin asked. Zoey and Leif shared a quick look at him and tried to determine whether he was being serious or attempting a bad joke. Tobin Batra was incredibly talented, incredibly smart, and also incredibly airheaded at times. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, only if no-longer-should-be-living is low,” Joan said. “Which is what you will be if you don’t all get back to work and fix this problem before the app launches in five days. Go!” Everybody scrambled to their feet and back to their desks, working to solve the problem. As Joan headed back toward her office, she said, “Zoey, Max, come with me please.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey tried not to panic as she followed Joan; staying calm sandwiched between her boss and Max was not an easy task, however. They stopped in Joan’s office and she gestured to the seats as she said, “I promise they don’t have hidden spikes. Why does nobody ever want to sit in here?” Neither Max nor Zoey answered as they took a seat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m going to be uncharacteristically honest with the two of you,” Joan said. “I’ve decided that you two are the final two contestants for the promotion.” Zoey and Max’s eyes darted from Joan to each other, locking together as she continued, “So in case you didn’t have any extra motivation to find the bug, now you do.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey pulled her eyes away from Max and back to Joan and offered a small smile. Max opened his mouth and raised a finger as if he were about to ask a question, but Joan cut him off with “Unless the next words to come out of either of your mouths are ‘Joan, I’ve solved the bug,’ I don’t want to hear it. Go. Do. Be. All that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The pair of coders stood and ventured back to the bullpen in step. “May the best man or woman win,” Max said with a grin as he sat at his desk and began typing. Zoey wasn’t going to let him have the satisfaction. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She will.” </span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Zoey glanced at the clock and saw it was 4:59, looked up from her computer to stretch, and saw that Tobin had fallen asleep at his desk despite the fact that they weren’t any closer to finding the bug in the SPRQ Watch than they were three days ago when it was discovered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey reached for the stress relief ball she kept in her drawer and threw it at Tobin, surprised and proud when it actually hit him. She was still getting used to her power, but within a few beats she recognized the iconic song that Tobin started singing in response.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Pour myself a cup of ambition and</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Yawn and stretch and try to come to life</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin reached for the coffee on his desk, took a quick sip, and then jumped onto his chair and continued singing. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin'</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Out on the street the traffic starts jumpin'</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey couldn’t help but laugh when Leif joined in for the chorus, harmonizing surprisingly well with Tobin; she hoped it was just in Zo-ality that she laughed rather than reality. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A few more of her coworkers joined in for the next couple of lines. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>They just use your mind and they never give you credit</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, the rest of her team—with the exception of just </span>
  <em>
    <span>one</span>
  </em>
  <span> other person—jumped up to join in the heartsong. As the team surrounded her and Max’s desks and continued singing, Zoey realized the song must be fueled not only by being overworked but also by Max and Zoey being the last two remaining in the race for manager of engineering. At least there wasn’t anything she had to do in response to this particular heartsong. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>9 to 5, for service and devotion</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You would think that I would deserve a fat promotion</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Want to move ahead but the boss won't seem to let me</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I swear sometimes that woman’s out to get me!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Shortly after the song had ended, the majority of Zoey’s coworkers had headed home for the night; she had told Tobin and Leif she was going to stay just a few more minutes, but in the blink of an eye it was half past nine and she and Max were the only two left in the building. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’d spent the last couple of hours stealing glances at him as she continued scouring lines of code looking for any possible error—and little did she know, Max was doing the same. Zoey was about to give up for the night and head home when Max literally jumped up from his chair and half shouted, “it’s not the watch!” His voice cracked a bit, clearly dry from the hours they’d spent in silence. </span>
  <em>
    <span>His voice cracks</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Zoey added to the running list of things in her head trying to prove whether Maxwell Richman was an actual human or rather a robot. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey was startled by the sudden noise, but tried to play it cool as Max continued. “Or the app! It’s both,” he said. “That 50 over 20 number isn’t a reading, it’s the default number we plugged in when we were programming it. The watch and the app aren’t even talking to each other!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Zoey knew immediately that he was right. “So, if we revert any of the code we touched the last few days in the firmware repository and prepare a new build to ship…” Zoey said. As she trailed off, her and Max both returned their full attention to their computers and began making the necessary changes in tandem. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After another few minutes, Max made the final push and they both checked their watches. After a minute, the test was complete and her screen read 120/80. As happy she was to have a normal blood pressure, her heart sank knowing this meant Max was going to get the promotion. “Congratulations,” she said as she stood a moment later, reaching for her bag. She took a deep breath, having an internal debate for a second before continuing, “If you tell anybody this I will deny it, but I think you’ll make a really good manager.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The look on Max’s face was earnestly confused; at first she thought he just wasn’t used to her complimenting him, but then he said, “what are you talking about? I couldn’t have done this without you. We’ll just tell Joan we figured it out together.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> talking about?” Zoey countered, “I had nothing to do with finding the problem.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey swore she saw a quick flush across his cheeks, but looked away before she could dwell on it. His eye contact was too intense to hold for that long. “I uh.. Well, the only reason I figured it out is because I was thinking about how we were here together for hours tonight without communicating,” he said. “I just realized the watch had the same problem that we did and then we fixed it together.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey didn’t know what to say, mainly because she didn’t know how to feel. Here she was, sitting with this person who was supposed to be her nemesis, but in this moment she felt nothing but warmth and affection; the look she saw in Max’s eyes was the same one she saw on her first day at SPRQ Point before CoffeeGate. Genuine sincerity.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead of thinking any more about that look in his eyes, Zoey pushed the thought from her mind and said, “Okay, well, umm… goodnight!” She crossed the room to the elevator, leaving Max alone and wondering why—of all the possible emotions he could be feeling right now—more than anything he was just sad to see her go. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Arson</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Part One of Simon's Engagement Party. More to come!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Okay, so you guys will meet at mine and Mo’s apartment at 8 and then we’ll head over to Simon and Jessica’s?” Zoey asked Leif and Tobin as they headed toward the elevator at the end of the day.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before they had the chance to respond, Max—who was also leaving and clearly eavesdropping—asked, “Simon invited you guys to his engagement party?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The fact that Max and Simon had seemed to become pretty good pals since Max had joined the morning management meetings after his promotion a few weeks ago was the one thing that was stopping Zoey from wanting to go to the party. She knew he’d be a top-shelf liquor kind of dude, though, so she had ultimately decided it was worth it. “What?” Zoey asked, “Can’t believe Simon has friends as cool as us?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Max said sarcastically as they were all waiting in the bay, “That’s definitely where my confusion lies.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you must know,” Tobin added, “we taught Si-Si how to beat Galaga in the game area, and we’ve been tight ever since.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you called him Si-Si to his face?” Max asked and Zoey had to stifle a laugh. She didn’t know much about Simon, but she guessed that the nickname wouldn’t go over well. She covered the slight sound that escaped her lips with a cough as to not give Max the satisfaction of making her laugh.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We are… building to that,” Leif said as they all piled into the elevator. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>"And remember, Leif and Tobin still don't know about my power!" Zoey said to Mo as he put the finishing touches on her outfit, a red and cream floral lace dress with a high neckline. "So keep your mouth shut, please and thank you." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why have you told them yet?" Mo asked, "Aren't you three thick as thieves? The three peas in a pod or whatever your entire office calls you?" </span>
</p><p>"Actually, Mo," Tobin said walking through the open door, "It's the three musketeers. Wonderful to see you again!" Tobin crossed to Mo and kissed his cheek with a smile. </p><p>Leif walked further into the room too, and Zoey started to panic that they had overheard her talking about her powers when Leif asked, "What haven't you told us yet, Zo?" </p><p>She froze<span>—she wasn't used to lying to her best friends—</span>but luckily Mo was there to cover for her. "Zoey's thinking about hooking up with one of Simon's groomsmen tonight!" He said. Zoey wished he would've had another lie readily available, but for now she was just happy that Leif and Tobin seemed to completely believe her. </p><p>"Oh get it, girl," Tobin said, "it's been a hot. minute." </p><p>Zoey playfully punched him as she gave him a stink eye. He wasn't wrong. But he also wasn't supposed to <em>say that</em>. </p><p>"Just remember a condom," Leif said as they walked toward the door, "according to my Zoey calendar you're ovulating and we all know you do not take the pill dependably." </p><p>"You guys are so lucky I like you," Zoey sighed, making a mental note to set a regular reminder to take her pill. Her friends were neurotic, but they also knew her better than she sometimes cared to admit. </p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>As she stuffed another pig in a blanket in her mouth, Zoey walked up to the bar and ordered her… fifth? sixth? whiskey sour of the night. For the first hour or so of the party Zoey had been having a good time with Mo, Leif, and Tobin, but then the first heart song came. Jessica had sung Say My Name by Destiny’s Child to her Maid of Honor and Simon as he gave a speech, and Zoey did not know any of them well enough to know how to approach the situation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Had the heartsongs stopped there, Zoey could have taken some time and decided how to try and help Jessica; unfortunately, though, shortly after two additional guests who Zoey did not know sang a lovey dovey duet that she didn’t recognize. When that song had ended, she lost track of Tobin, Leif, and Mo, so she went to the bar to order another drink and the bartender had sung a sad, slowed down rendition of Margaritaville. Everywhere she turned someone else was singing their feelings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey stood on her tippie toes and spotted Mo flirting with a guy who might as well be Hercules, and then saw Leif talking to Joan in the corner. Neither of those seemed like situations she particularly cared to join so he scanned the room for Tobin instead. Being 5’2” did not lend itself to scanning large crowds, though, so she grabbed another drink and started weaving through the crowd. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After another intense heartsong from a guest who seemed less than pleased with her boyfriend ended—seriously, what was in the air here?—Zoey turned and ran directly into none other than Max Richman. She was not about to stand in his vicinity long enough to get sung to by him too. “Oh you are so not the person I need right now,” she said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey turned on her heel to move away from him, when her foot got caught on a cord running across the ground and tripped into a tiki torch which fell over and set the decorative flower wall ablaze in an instant. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Max watched as the wall of flowers burnt and then as Zoey fumbled through a drunk, awkward apology; he watched as Zoey’s accidental arson turned into Simon, Jessica, and her Maid of Honor screaming at each other. And then he watched as Zoey ran out of the party. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He thought about following her, and then thought better of it. He was, after all, the reason she’d burned down the flower wall. Max stuck around for another few minutes, but the whole arson revealing adultery kind of put a damper on the engagement party, so he decided to head out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he got onto the crowded street, Max realized the Warrior's game must've just ended. Zoey quickly caught his eye, pacing and pleading with a guy getting into an Uber. As the car drove off, she started screaming at it. “Not gonna start that dude’s car on fire too, are you?” Maxed joked as he approached her. When Zoey turned and faced him, he could see instantly it wasn’t a time for jokes. Her eyes started filling with tears. Max had never seen Zoey Clarke cry, and he didn’t like the pit it created in his stomach. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey didn’t say anything, but she started walking away from him. Fuck. He’d clearly hit a nerve with his arson joke, and for some reason couldn’t leave it like that. “Zoey, wait!” Max called after her, jogging to catch up. “Look, It was just a joke… Maybe a bad one. But, uh. I’m sorry! Nobody is hurt, nobody is dying. Everything is fine!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everything is not fine!” Zoey shouted as she stopped and looked at him. She looked as if she were going to say something else, but then looked back at her phone. “Why are there no cars available?! I need a car. I need-” A sob escaped her lips and Max realized that this had absolutely nothing to do with Simon’s party. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He reached out tentatively and grabbed Zoey’s wrist to stop her from the pacing she’d resumed as she continued fiddling with the app. Max knew no cars were coming, but Zoey didn’t seem to be thinking straight enough to grasp just how many people fit in the Chase Center. “Hey… hey,” he said, “Look at me, Zoey.” When her blue eyes eventually looked up and met his, they were brighter than normal—still filled with tears. “What do you need? Let me help you.” </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. ...And Other Things</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Max helps Zoey get home to see Mitch. </p>
<p>Special thanks to all the clarkeman nation discord babes for being my personal jukebox and especially @hookedoncaptainswan for suggesting Carry On by Fun for Max's first heartsong. :) </p>
<p>This chapter has a monster of a word count compared to other chapters in this fic, so i'm either sorry, or your welcome. You choose!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What do you need?” Max asked, “Let me help you.” </p>
<p>“I need a Lyft. Or an Uber—I’m not picky,” Zoey said, pulling her arm away from him to resume pacing. She instantly regretted putting space between them, but forced the thought from her mind before she could dwell on it. Right now she could only think of her dad. </p>
<p>“How about a scooter?” Max offered, “Looks like there’s a few down the street.” </p>
<p>“I wouldn’t trust myself to ride one of those sober, let alone as drunk as I am right now,” Zoey answered honestly. Max continued talking, and as much as she appreciated that Max was trying to help her out, Zoey could not focus on what he was saying. She kept pacing. But then she heard the soft sounds of piano and stopped in her tracks. Max took a few tentative steps toward her and started singing. </p>
<p>
  <em> Well I woke up to the sound of silence,  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> The cars were cutting like knives in a fist fight </em>
</p>
<p>For just a moment Zoey forgot about everything else that was happening. She had had her power for quite some time now, and she’d gotten pretty used to hearing people’s inner thoughts. But Max was one of the few people in Zoey’s life who hadn’t sung to her yet—and suddenly his voice was in her head and she couldn’t believe it was the first time she was hearing it because it felt so natural. </p>
<p>
  <em> And I found you with a bottle of wine, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Your head in the curtains and heart like the fourth of July </em>
</p>
<p>Just the other night Zoey had been having a conversation with Mo and had said, “I still haven’t heard Max sing, which I am pretty sure confirms my ‘Max Richman is actually a robot’ theory.” As Max continued singing, Zoey knew she’d been wrong; Max Richman’s heartsong had more heart than most. Maybe more than <em> any </em> of the songs she’d heard so far. </p>
<p>
  <em> You swore and said we are not, we are not shining stars </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> This I know—I never said we are </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Though I've never been through hell like that </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I've closed enough windows to know you can never look back </em>
</p>
<p>Until this point, Max hadn’t done much beyond moving slowly toward Zoey as he sang, but then he closed the distance between them and grabbed her hand again. He started walking quickly down the sidewalk, almost dragging a surprised Zoey behind him as he continued. </p>
<p>
  <em> If you're lost and alone, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Or you're sinking like a stone, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Carry on </em>
</p>
<p>Max and Zoey traveled through the streets, weaving between Warrior’s fans. Zoey had no idea where they were going, and she knew it wasn’t toward the hospital, but Max seemed to know what he was doing. And Zoey decided in a split second that she was going to trust him. </p>
<p>
  <em> May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Carry on </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Carry on, carry on </em>
</p>
<p>They walked several more blocks as Max sang the next verse. As they approached what Zoey recognized to be his Audi, parked outside what she assumed to be his apartment building, the music faded out. She stopped again, the tears that had disappeared during Max’s performance were back as she realized what he was doing. “Max…” she said. </p>
<p>Max opened the passenger door for her, guiding her into the seat without a word and then walked around the car to the driver’s seat. “Where am I heading?” he said as he turned the vehicle on. </p>
<p>Zoey looked down at her phone, trying not to let Max see the tears falling down her face, and saw a text from David saying that her dad was about to be discharged from the hospital. She realized that he’d probably be gone by the time they made it across town to the hospital, so she said, “Can you take me to my parent’s house? They live on McLellan Drive over by Alta Loma park.” </p>
<p>“You got it,” he said, pulling out into the road and heading toward the Clarke house. They were both quiet for quite some time. Zoey was thankful that Max wasn’t asking any more questions, but she knew she owed him an explanation. </p>
<p>“My dad…” she said, and had to stop for another minute. Max mainly kept his eyes on the road, but he glanced over for a second to show Zoey he was listening despite not having said a word. “He, uh, has progressive supranuclear palsy, which is this degenerative neurological disease. And he fell tonight trying to get upstairs and had to be brought to the hospital because… he um, can’t talk anymore. So he couldn’t tell my mom if he was hurt.” </p>
<p>“That’s really tough, Zoey,” Max said quietly. “I’m sorry your family is going through that. Have you heard anything about what happened at the hospital?” </p>
<p>“My brother texted that he was getting discharged, so he must be alright,” Zoey said, “at least relatively.” She was surprised how easily talking about this to Max came. She’d said a few things here and there to Tobin, Leif, and Mo over the last few months, but she hadn’t <em> really </em> opened up to anybody about it. </p>
<p>“That’s great news!” Max said, and she could tell he meant it. They returned to silence for a few minutes and then he added, “You and your dad must be close?” </p>
<p>“Why do you say that?” Zoey asked, more curious than anything how he could tell that from their conversation tonight. And then, as a bit of an afterthought to show she wasn’t annoyed, added, “I mean, you’re not wrong. We’ve always been really close. He was—or, uh, <em> is </em>—a great dad.” </p>
<p>“I’ve worked five feet away from you for five years, Zoey,” he said with just a hint of a smile in his voice, “I’ve noticed the picture of your family on a sailboat you keep on your desk. And I’ve heard you talk to Leif and Tobin. Just because we... have never talked about it doesn't mean I haven't noticed.” </p>
<p>They hadn’t talked about a lot of things, but they were getting close to the Clarke house so instead of answering she started giving him directions. A few minutes later, he pulled up to the house. It was still dark inside, so she assumed she was the first one to get back when a knock on the window of the car startled her. David gave her an odd look as he saw who was in the driver’s seat. </p>
<p>Zoey opened her door and got out of the car and immediately asked David how their dad was. “I think he’s okay,” he said, rubbing the scruff on his cheeks and ignoring Max as he got out of the car and joined them in the yard. “The doctor said he’ll probably be pretty sore for a few days, so they gave him a back brace and an additional pain killer, but nothing was broken and his head CT looked fine.” </p>
<p>Zoey hugged her brother instead of responding; while her and David had their own healthy dose of sibling rivalry, she knew he was the only other person who understood what it felt like to be in her situation right now. When she pulled away a few seconds later, she said, “Oh, David, this is my coworker...or, uh,” she corrected herself, “my manager, Max.” </p>
<p>David gave Max a clearly forced smile, shook his hand, said, “Nice to meet you,” and then turned back to give Zoey another thinly veiled look that said “what the <em> fuck </em>?” Zoey’s entire family knew Max as her bitter rival. Not the man who drove her home to see her sick father in an emergency. </p>
<p>“Nice to meet you too,” Max said. His smile was more natural, but Zoey knew from years of experience that he was good at giving perfidious grins, too. “So, did you need anything else, Zoey, or-”</p>
<p>Before Zoey got the chance to tell Max he could leave, David said “Actually, Max, could you help me bring a bed downstairs? Zoey, Mom asked if you could get a milkshake ready for dad to take his pills with, and they should be home any minute.” </p>
<p>Zoey shot David an obvious glare. “You have done <em> plenty </em> tonight Max,” she said, “I can help with the bed. Thanks so much for your help!” </p>
<p>“It’s no big deal,” Max said earnestly, joining David as he walked toward the front door and leaving Zoey standing alone by the car. She didn’t like her brother and <em> whatever Max was </em> joining forces against her. Not one bit. But it was for her dad, so she couldn’t <em> really </em> do anything about it now could she? </p>
<p>The next several minutes went by in a blur. Zoey went to the kitchen, pulled out a blender and started making a shake as she heard David and Max upstairs getting the bed. Her mom and dad returned, settling Mitch in the bed Max and David had set up in the den. Maggie refused to leave his side, and Zoey didn’t want to either, but she knew she had to tell Max goodbye and try and thank him for everything he’d done. </p>
<p>She left her parents alone in the den, closing the door behind her and then her and Max were alone in the entryway. Zoey knew she should start talking but she wasn’t quite able to put into words what tonight had meant to her, so they just looked at each other for a few seconds. She tried to put her thoughts into words, saying, “Max, you were there for me tonight when I least expected it and…” </p>
<p>Zoey didn’t get to finish her thought, though, because Max pulled her into a tight hug; he held on a few seconds longer than was comfortable, but Zoey couldn’t make herself pull away. “Look,” he said, “thank you so much for opening up to me tonight. I know that couldn’t have been easy for you. But if you want to just forget this night ever happened, I totally understand. Take care of yourself, Clarke—goodnight.” </p>
<p>She studied his face, trying to comprehend what he’d said. But then he opened the door, and all she could mutter was a quick “goodnight” as he closed it again behind him. Zoey was about to head upstairs to find David when she heard the hearrsong from earlier reprise, this time even slower than the original; she went to the window to watch as Max walked down the sidewalk singing in a strong, clear voice.</p>
<p>
  <em> 'Cause we are, we are shining stars </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> We are invincible, we are who we are </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> On our darkest day, when we're miles away </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> So we'll come, we will find our way home </em>
</p>
<p>He paused by the lamppost near his car and looked back at her and continued,</p>
<p>
  <em> If you're lost and alone, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Or you're sinking like a stone, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Carry on </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Carry on.  </em>
</p>
<p>Zoey watched as he got in his car and drove away, thinking about how his recent absence was the only thing that was making her feel alone.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Altogether Mighty Frightening</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Zoey and Max take another step forward. </p>
<p>Heartsong: Don't Speak by No Doubt (:</p>
<p>All canon material to its rightful owner.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Max had told Zoey, “if you want to just forget this night ever happened, I totally understand,” apparently he’d meant it. When Zoey returned to work the following Monday, Max went about his day without a word. And then the next day, and the next. It’s not that anything had <em> really changed </em>, so Zoey wasn’t sure why she was so taken aback when he didn’t even acknowledge her presence beyond being her manager. But she was. </p>
<p>So when she had a question for him on Friday afternoon and he wasn’t sitting at his desk, Zoey decided to let the petty that had been building all week show just a little bit and go find him. She looked in the conference room and Simon’s office, where she knew he worked on his laptop sometimes, and then took a detour up to the rooftop garden to see if he was there after not finding him at the pinball machine where he frequently blew off steam. </p>
<p>When she came back downstairs, Zoey decided to check in the meditation room before giving up; she opened the door and saw him sitting cross legged on a mat. As she threw the door open, Max wiped tears from his eyes as quickly and inconspicuously as possible hoping Zoey would just think he was… sweating? From all of the meditating he was doing? She wasn’t fooled.</p>
<p>Before she opened the door, Zoey had planned to ask him if he was avoiding her when she finally found him. But then she found him and he just looked <em> so </em>sad. Even without her power, it was written all over his face. She didn’t know it was possible for him to look so sad—his eternal grin even when they were arguing was one of the things about Max Richman that frustrated her to no end. </p>
<p>Max looked down at his hands, playing with the hem of his shirt to keep busy, as Zoey kicked off her shoes and grabbed a mat to sit opposite of him a few feet away. “Are you okay, Max?” she eventually asked softly. She wasn’t used to being soft with him. He took a deep breath, but didn’t say anything for another few minutes. </p>
<p>“Autumn broke up with me the other night,” he said eventually. “My dad is going to be in town on a business trip this weekend, and I asked her to come with me to my obligatory dinner on Saturday so that I wouldn’t have to go through <em> that </em> alone, and she told me that she thought that our path was just supposed to be this short, fun thing because she wasn’t ready to settle down and go back to the east coast so that my parents could be closer to their grandkids. Which, I guess, just goes to show how little she really knows me.” </p>
<p>Zoey had never heard Max ramble like this. She wasn’t quite sure what point to touch on first: the break up or the family obligation. Instead of either, she blurted out, “you don’t want kids?” before she could stop herself and was rewarded with a zany smile from Max. She noted with a bit of satisfaction that it was the first time he’d looked anything other than dejected all week.</p>
<p>“No,” he answered eventually, “it’s not that I am against kids some day, if I meet the right person. It’s that I would never <em> in a million years </em>want to move back to New York to be closer to my parents when that day comes.” </p>
<p>“Ahhh,” Zoey said, trialing the sound out as she tried to decide what to say next. “I’m sorry about Autumn, though. But hey! Bright side! At least now your trips to the ocean won’t have to take up an entire work day.” Autumn had once told Zoey she spent eight straight hours looking at the ocean, and she couldn’t picture Max going along with that. </p>
<p>“Why are you doing this?” Max asked. </p>
<p>“Doing what?”</p>
<p>“Being so nice to me,” he said. “I know that you and your little sidekicks have an entire list of mean nicknames for me. I beat you out for a promotion you probably deserved. And God knows you’ll never forget CoffeeGate, so why? If it’s because of the other night you can just… not.” </p>
<p>“We…” Zoey said, about to argue but then trailing off. She can’t deny the list of nicknames, and if he’s bringing it up Max has probably found the coded file Tobin put on the GIT so there’s really no point in trying to. And while she knows she could’ve made a great manager, there’s no denying Max has done a great job so she can’t really fight back there either. As for CoffeeGate… she realizes she actually had kind of forgotten about that over the last few weeks. “Okay,” she finally admitted, “that might all be true. But all of those things are only true because you’re annoying. Not because you’re, like, a bad person.” </p>
<p>Sure, Zoey hasn’t been able to stop thinking about how Max stepped up for her and her dad this week. But more than anything, hearing Max’s heartsong made her realize that even though he’s been the antagonist in her story for the last few years, he’s a real human with real feelings. And she knows better than anybody that sometimes dealing with those feelings is a necessary step in moving forward. “Recently I’ve had some, uh, opportunities to try and practice having a little more empathy,” she continued, “even for my enemies.” </p>
<p>Max just looked at her for a minute, but eventually must’ve decided her answer was good enough. “Autumn really does have a certain joie de vivre, doesn’t she?” he said. Zoey tried to decide whether he sounded more wistful or dismayed. </p>
<p>“Yeah, she’s definitely more happy at seven in the morning on any given tuesday than I am… like, ever,” Zoey said giving him a hint of a smile. He returned it. </p>
<p>“I don’t think we’re really joie de vivre people, are we?” Max asked. </p>
<p>Zoey’s heart skipped a beat when he referred to the two of them as “we” and hoped he didn’t notice; the man had just broken up with his girlfriend, the last thing he needed was Zoey getting giddy at the thought of him. She quickly shook whatever <em> that thought </em>was from her head and said, “nope, we really aren’t.” </p>
<p>Max took a deep breath, rubbing his hands down his face. Zoey noticed that his eyes were still a little puffy. “Anyway,” he said, “the biggest bummer of it all is that now I have to sit through an entire meal with my father tomorrow night. Alone.” </p>
<p>Before Zoey could have any doubts, she said the first thing that came to mind, “I could go with you if you want.” </p>
<p>Max literally laughed out loud. She watched his face contort as he realized what he’d done, and then he just looked at her as if she was a screen of code he was trying to debug. After a moment, he seemed to realize she was serious. “Wait, really?” </p>
<p>“Sure, I don’t have any other big plans,” she said with a shrug. At that moment, Zoey heard the faint noise of guitar. She was equal parts excited and terrified to see what Max was really thinking, but then the door to the meditation room burst open. Tobin stood in the frame and began singing. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> You and me, we used to be together </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Every day together, always </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I really feel that I'm losin' my best friend </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I can't believe this could be the end </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He slowly walked into the meditation room, walking between Max and Zoey. Max gave him, and then Zoey, the weirdest look and Zoey realized in Max’s eyes Tobin was probably just wandering aimlessly. “Tobin,” Max said softly, “you good, man?” Instead of answering the question, Tobin just continued singing. Max and Zoey shared another glance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> It looks as though you're lettin' go </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> And if it's real, well, I don't want to know </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Don't speak, I know just what you're sayin' </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> So please stop explainin' </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Don’t tell me ‘cause it hurts </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Zoey knew that things between Tobin and Leif had been tense since Leif bailed on Spell-iversary the other night to work on the Chirp, but she’d been busy with her dad and had ignored it. As Tobin sang, heading back toward the bullpen, she knew she could no longer ignore it. “I should go deal with that,” she said.</p>
<p>“Yeah, he seems a little off,” Max said, “in, like, the complete opposite way of normal Tobin <em> offness </em>.” </p>
<p>Zoey got up, slipping her shoes back on and headed toward Tobin, who’d just left and was now singing in the lobby of the office. Zoey paused by the door, looking back at Max. “So, uh, tomorrow?”</p>
<p>“I’ll pick you up at seven.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Dinner... date?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Shocker: dinner doesn't go as planned.</p>
<p>Asshole Andrew belongs to Discord Nation headcanon!! </p>
<p>I don't normally base things on real things, but this chapter I did if you're curious :) <br/>This is the dress Zoey end up wearing: https://www.tobi.com/product/62428-tobi-voltage-low-back-swing-dress?color_id=91523<br/>And Max's suit is something like this: https://blog.menstylica.com/post/170549230863/mens-fashion-menswear</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I thought I was doing a pretty good job of hiding it,” Tobin said with a shrug and a grin. He took another sip of his mimosa. The three musketeers had decided to go out for brunch on Saturday, and now it was late afternoon and they were still sipping the bottomless mimosas they’d ordered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You really, really were not,” Zoey said, thinking about Tobin’s dismal rendition of Don’t Speak in the office the other day. After Tobin had finished singing yesterday, Zoey encouraged him to have a conversation with Leif about Spell-iversary; and when the boys had made up, she’d apologized to both of her friends for being a little absent lately, promising to be more conscious of their friendship. And, thus, the celebratory brunch. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Listen,” Leif said smirking, “I’m just glad that we’re all on the same page. I, for one, cannot wait for the three of us to run that place.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thinking of SPRQ Point turned Zoey’s thoughts to Max. She looked at her watch, and realized she had only a couple of hours to get ready for her fancy dinner with the attractive man from her office and his father that was definitely not a date but definitely felt a lot like a date despite having spent the great part of the last five years hating said man. “I should probably go get ready,” she said reluctantly. “Will you guys come hang out while I do?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They all finished their last mimosa and headed back to Zoey’s apartment. While she jumped in the shower, Tobin and Leif took over her couch—Leif sitting prim and proper as always with Tobin lounging and legs sprawled over Leif’s lap. They turned on the tv, flipping to the Game Show Network and watching reruns of Lingo. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, c’mon you idiot,” Leif said, rolling his eyes as Zoey walked out in a bathrobe holding up two dress options. He ignored her. “The answer is obviously bagel. I got it three guesses ago! You shouldn’t be allowed on a game show if you are such a cretin. Cretin! There’s a word nobody on this show would ever be able to solve if they can’t even get something as simple as bagel.”  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Leif, buddy,” Tobin said softly, “you’re getting upset about game shows that last aired over a decade ago again. Should we maybe turn the channel?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey grabbed the remote and turned the tv off all together. “Better yet,” she said, “you can help me decide what to wear. Max will be here any minute and I still can’t decide which dress to wear!” Zoey held up her two options: a floral t-shirt dress and an olive halter dress with thin straps that cross an otherwise open back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she was showing off the two options, Tobin got off the couch and walked out her door without a word. She and Leif shared an odd look, heard knocking, and then a few moments later Tobin reappeared with Mo by his side—not bothering to shut the apartment door behind him as he sat back down in his spot on the couch. “Zoey, I wear hoodies every day,” he said, “there is absolutely no reason to ask me and Mr. Rotating Cardigans over here what to wear when you live across the hall from this genius.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“First of all,” Mo said, “thank you for recognizing my expertise, Tobin. Second: Zoey, show me your options.” Zoey held up the two options, and within seconds Mo pointed to the olive dress and recommended a pair of heels and accessories to match. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey went into her room to change. She was putting a pair of Mo's gold earrings in he'd insisted on borrowing her when Tobin said, “Remind me again why you said you’d do this?” Why </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> she agreed to this? She wasn’t exactly sure. What she did know was that Max had been upset and she didn’t like it. But she wasn’t even ready to admit that to herself yet, let alone the three people in the other room. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif took her momentary silence to put his two cents in. “Seems like you guys have been pretty friendly lately,” he said. “Do we… still hate him? Orrrrr?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey made the split second decision to end this conversation before they could read anything into it. “Oh my god yes, we still hate him,” she lied. “I’m just paying him back for helping with my dad the other night. That’s all. Now shut up before he gets here.” </span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Max had been anxious about seeing his dad </span>
  <em>
    <span>all day</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but a fresh wave of nerves washed over him as he parked his car on the street outside Zoey’s apartment. It was almost refreshing to be nervous about something other than spending time with his dad, without the buffer of his mom being there to keep things civil, for the first time in years. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wiped his sweaty palms on his navy suit pants as he walked up the sidewalk; he’d put a tie on earlier, but after nervously messing around with it on the entire drive over, Max had decided to throw it in the backseat and unbutton a the top few buttons of his patterned light blue dress shirt. He knew his dad would hate it. He didn’t particularly care. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As he started up the stairs to Zoey’s second floor apartment, he heard other voices he recognized and instinctively paused. “Seems like you guys have been pretty friendly lately,” Leif said. “Do we still… hate him? Orrrrr?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max froze as he waited for a response.  “Oh my god yes, we still hate him,” Zoey said easily. “I’m just paying him back for helping with my dad the other night. That’s all. Now shut up before he gets here.” Ouch. Max had been surprised when Zoey offered to go to dinner with him. And it’s not that he thought this was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>date</span>
  </em>
  <span> or anything. But hearing Zoey talk about their budding friendship as a set of transactional actions hurt more than he thought it would’ve. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was glad he hadn’t stopped to do something as foolish as buying flowers like he’d thought about on the way over. Max forced himself to take a few deep breaths, and then when he heard their conversation turn back to game shows he continued up to the landing. The door was open, so he knocked lightly as he stuck his head through. “Zoey?” he called out, throwing out a small involuntary smile when he saw her. He waved at Tobin, Leif, and one other person he didn’t recognize, but assumed was the mysterious “Mo” the trio frequently talked about at work. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi Max,” she said, returning the smile. Damn it, she looked incredible. Even with her harsh words playing back in his mind over and over, he couldn't think about anything but how incredible she looked. Zoey grabbed her purse off the table and, bringing him back to reality, said, “ready to go?” He wasn't, but he was also as ready as he’d ever be. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s do it,” he said, realizing a moment too late the slight sexual innuendo that phrase could carry. They said goodbye and headed out to Max’s car. Zoey slid into the passenger seat and Max noted how much more comfortable she appeared compared to the other two times she’d been there. “So, you’re cool with just leaving them in your apartment alone?” Max asked after a few minutes of awkward silence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah,” Zoey said with a chuckle, “and even if I wasn’t, my neighbor Mo is the building superintendent, so if they wanted to be there without me he’d probably just use his key after I left.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They arrived at the restaurant after just a few minutes and Max took a deep breath as he turned the car off. He thought back to the night that he’d met Zoey’s dad. Even in extreme pain and unable to communicate verbally, Mitch had had such a calm, peaceful tenor to him. “So, uh, fair warning,” he said, “my dad is… a lot. Don’t be surprised he says anything mildly or maybe even not-so-mildly offensive. I apologize in advance for the entire evening.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can stand my ground,” Zoey said with a smirk as they walked toward the door. Max knew better than most that she could. When they got inside, Max gave the host his name, and they were brought back to a table where his dad was already sitting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dad,” Max said as he gave his dad a firm handshake and tight smile. He stepped back, pulling Zoey’s chair out for her slightly as he continued, “This is my… </span>
  <em>
    <span>friend</span>
  </em>
  <span> Zoey Clarke. We work together at SPRQ Point. Zoey, this is my father, Andrew.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nice to meet you!” Zoey said, her entire face lighting up with a smile as she took a seat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is a tie place, don’t you think, Maxwell?” His dad said as a way of greeting; Andrew didn’t waste time reducing himself to niceties. “So, Zoey,” he said, turning his attention away from his son when he didn’t get an immediate answer. “You work with my son. Did you take that job instead of going into your family business, too?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max felt all of the color drain from his face. Could his father really not even get through appetizers before bringing this up? Max felt a slight smile on his lips when Zoey quipped right back at his father, “Actually,” she said, “my parents own a landscaping business and I couldn’t even keep my cacti alive during college, so they wouldn’t have allowed me anywhere near their third baby even if I’d wanted to. Which I didn’t.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The waitress arrived at their table and asked Zoey and Max for their drink orders. “I’ll have a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon,” Max said, and Zoey had told her that she’d do the same. Andrew visibly sighed. “Is there a problem?” Max finally asked, when it was clear that his dad wasn’t going to comment whatever was going through his mind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, Andrew said, “I just expected more.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You expected </span>
  <em>
    <span>more </span>
  </em>
  <span>out of my drink choice?” Max said exasperatedly, “What, more of a pinot man yourself?” Max glanced over at Zoey, who was staying quiet and running her fingers across the edge of the table cloth nervously. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Obviously this is about more than your drink choice, son,” Andrew said, “But if we’re on a topic, you should not be ordering wine in public. It will give people the wrong impression.” Max felt his draw drop. <em>What did that even mean?</em> And were they really doing this? In front of his work nemesis? Before they’d even gotten said drinks? When Max didn’t comment, Andrew continued, “Listen, Max, I only say this out of concern for you. I just would like to help you get your life back on track, stop messing around with those silly computers, and come work for me so that I can pass on my years of wisdom.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max was shocked, even if he shouldn’t have been. He had always known his dad didn’t approve of what he was doing at SPRQ Point, but apparently his mom had really reined in his true feelings over the years. It had never been quite this bad. Max was shocked again when he heard Zoey’s soft but strong voice speak up. “You just have absolutely </span>
  <em>
    <span>no idea</span>
  </em>
  <span> who your son is, do you?” she said. “I have worked with your son for over five years and he is one of the wisest, most committed, and hard-working people I’ve ever met. Not to mention, he got promoted this year and has also stepped up as a manager and created a great work environment for every person on his team.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No offense, darling,” Andrew cut in, “But I am not going to take any advice from a girl who is </span>
  <em>
    <span>below</span>
  </em>
  <span> even Maxwell’s amateur role.” Max just stared at his father. He was so angry, and so shocked that he could still be shocked by him, but mostly he just felt numb. More than anything, he wasn’t going to let his dad speak to someone else—especially Zoey—like that. He’d never been great at standing up for himself, but Max </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> good at standing up for others. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think we should go, Zo,” Max said, pushing his chair back from the table and standing. He looked over at her for the first time, and saw anger written all over her flushed cheeks and furrowed eyebrows. But she got up without a word, and started to follow the few steps Max had taken. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Run away, Maxwell,” his dad called after them, “That’s what you do best, after all.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max was perfectly content to leave the conversation there, but Zoey stopped and turned around. “My father will never get the chance to see me be promoted at my job. He will never get to see my fall in love or get married or have children of my own. You have the chance to really </span>
  <em>
    <span>see</span>
  </em>
  <span> the great man your son has become and you’re just throwing that all away,” she said. “I hope, for your sake, that one day he finds it in his giant heart to forgive you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Max had been so wrapped up in his own mind that he hadn’t even given a single thought to what this meal with his father would be like for Zoey. He knew seeing Zoey's relationship with her father wasn't easy for him; he imagined the opposite was probably true as well. When they got out of the restaurant and back to his car, he looked over at her and said “Zoey, I’m so fucking sorry.” </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Monster Among Men</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Zoey and Max get tacos. </p>
<p>Heartsong: Monster Among Men by 5 Seconds of Summer.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“You’re sorry?” Zoey asked earnestly, “Why are </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> sorry?” Here she was, trying to find the words to tell Max how sorry she was that his dad had treated him so poorly. Trying to find any words that would take the crestfallen look on Max’s face and replace it with that maddening grin which usually lived there. And </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> was apologizing to </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For all…” Max said, gesturing broadly with his hands and then pointing back toward the restaurant, “that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You really don’t have to apologize,” Zoey responded, still unsure what else to say. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, but I do,” he said. “I didn’t even think about how going to dinner with my dad would be for you when your dad is…” Max trailed off when he started talking about Mitch. Nobody ever really knew what to say about her dad’s condition, so Zoey was used to the trailing off. But what Max said when he continued surprised her, “When your dad is so kind, and you would give anything to be able to just go out to dinner with him, and then I just go and throw away any chance of a relationship with my dad. I guess I’m just sorry to give you more reasons to despise me.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was struck by how he still saw Mitch as this full, vibrant person that Zoey knew he still was that so many people now dismissed due to his illness. And she was struck that Max really still thought she could despise him. Was she really that hard to read? Zoey refused to let her mind spiral into thoughts of her own, though, because Max was still looking at her like a sad puppy and she had to say something, </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything</span>
  </em>
  <span> to make those eyes and the man behind them less sad. “You’re right,” Zoey said finally. “I would give just about anything for a chance to sit down with my Dad for dinner.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she said the words out loud, she watched Max’s eyes somehow fall even more so she quickly continued. “Except, here’s the thing: I would give anything for another meal with my dad, because when I was 7 and took apart my easy bake oven, and then tried and failed to put it back together, he still ate the runny macaroni and cheese I prepared for him in it. When I was 17 and got my wisdom teeth out over holiday break and couldn’t eat anything solid for a week, my dad ate ramen noodles and chicken noodle soup with me in my room each night while my mom and brother ate actual meals downstairs. I would give anything to have another meal with my dad, because each and every semester of college he sent me care packages with all of my favorite treats during finals because he knew I’d be studying too much to make it to the cafeteria.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey paused and realized that it was just maaaaybe, </span>
  <em>
    <span>possibly</span>
  </em>
  <span> not the best time to be listing off all of the ways her father was amazing after everything. But she’d already gone too far and had to make her final point. “I would do a lot of things to have another meal with my father, but I don’t even know if I could sit through a single meal with </span>
  <em>
    <span>your</span>
  </em>
  <span> dad if it meant I got another one with mine,” she said. “Your dad is just… a monster. You don’t have to apologize for that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I guess you are probably realizing the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, huh?” Max responded; while his response was self-deprecating, Zoey noted that he looked just slightly less sorrowful than he had a minute ago.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please don’t make me repeat all of those nice things I said about you back there,” Zoey said. “I don’t think my pride would ever recover.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max chuckled, which made Zoey smile. She was happy to finally see a relatively happy Max again; even when they’d argued at work, she could always tell that his mind was present and calculating his next move in the capoeira between them. Tonight, he’d seemed so withdrawn and empty, and she didn’t like how it made her feel. “I seem to recall something about a wise, wonderful boss with a big heart?” he teased. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey rolled her eyes at him, but she couldn’t find it in herself to wipe the grin off her face. “Think you can find it in your big heart to get us to a restaurant?” Zoey asked, “I didn’t get all dressed up for nothing and, my god, an argument with a coworker’s dad can really make a girl hungry.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How about tacos?” Max asked, turning the car on and pulling out into traffic. “I know just the place.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fifteen minutes later, they were parked outside Tacko, a taqueria just a couple of blocks from the Presidio. They both ordered a few tacos, Max insisting on paying as a thanks for standing up to his dad, and then they walked over to Marshall’s beach and found an empty bench with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge to eat. They spoke lazily as they ate, getting to know each other a little better; as they talked, Zoey realized she didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> know anything about Maxwell Richman. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“God, it’s been years since I’ve sat and really just looked at the bridge,” Zoey said in between bites. She and Max were sitting next to each other—close, but not </span>
  <em>
    <span>too</span>
  </em>
  <span> close—and both staring out over the water. They alternated between shoving tacos into their mouths and taking turns leading the conversation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you come here a lot as a kid?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, not really,” Zoey said. “I was more into science experiments and my brother into musicals than either of us were outdoorsey, and my dad has always loved sailing, so I think he never wanted to push his luck with anything beyond that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“David likes musicals, huh?” Max said. “One of my very favorite childhood memories was going to see The Producers with my grandpa at the St. James Theatre when I was a kid. Looking back, I was definitely too young to have gone, but I think my grandpa knew way before I ever noticed that my dad and I weren’t going to get along, and he kind of took me under his Broadway-loving wing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The story broke Zoey’s heart, thinking about how her own dad had always encouraged her and David to passionately love the things that they loved, but Max didn’t look or sound sad. “You and your dad’s relationship has always been tense, then?” she asked carefully. Instead of responding, Max started singing. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Demons</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Hide behind my back</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And I can't see them</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>One, two, three, four</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey and Max had both finished eating, so he jumped up and danced around their bench as he sang. She could almost see the anger from earlier leaving his body as he sang. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Leading me to do their dirty work</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Won't let them knock down my door</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh, the stupid truth is I'm so bad for you</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Max started heading back toward his car as he sang, and Zoey followed him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Oh no no no, I can't take it</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh no no no, I won't break your heart again</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I don't wanna be a monster among men</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He continued singing as they got in the car and he drove Zoey home. He sang as he walked her up to her apartment building’s door, and then up the flight of stairs.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Fragile, always 'bout to fall just like sand castles</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>three, two, one, go</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Strong hold, It's time for me to admit that I'm an asshole, so here I go</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh, the stupid truth is I'm so bad for you</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They stood at her door, just inches apart as he sang the chorus one last time. There was such desperation dripping from each of the words. Max was </span>
  <em>
    <span>so clearly worried</span>
  </em>
  <span> that he was his father. And Zoey was worried that she was part of the reason he thought so. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh no no no, I can't take it</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh no no no, I won't break your heart again</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I don't wanna be a monster among men</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Their faces were just inches apart as he finished his heartsong. “Max…” Zoey said as she took a deep breath, painfully aware of how closer they were to each other. She so badly wanted to ignore the song, to throw her lips onto his right there in the hallway and kiss away any doubt Max had about her. Maybe her lips could say what her mouth wasn’t able to yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But if her power had taught Zoey anything, it was that when people sang to her it was because </span>
  <em>
    <span>she </span>
  </em>
  <span>needed to help </span>
  <em>
    <span>them</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and her desire to shove her tongue down Max’s throat was purely selfish. It wouldn’t help him in any conceivable way. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She watched his eyes glance down at her lips, and instead of dwelling on what that meant, she forced herself back against her door to create a little space between them. If she didn’t, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to have another conversation with him again without devouring his lips. “You, uh… you are not your dad,” she finally said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The word “dad” seemed to snap Max out of whatever force was pushing them together. He stepped back, giving her a weird look. She realized they’d reached her apartment during a heartsong, which meant she had no idea what had gone on in Max’s world while she was in Zo-ality. Neither of them had the chance to say another word, though, because at that moment Zoey’s apartment door flew open and she stumbled backward into Tobin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought I heard something out here!” Tobin said, easily lifting a stumbling Zoey and settling her firmly on her own two feet again. “How was the date, lovebirds?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It wasn’t a date,” Max said, almost as if it were a reflex, “Have a good night, Zoey. Thanks again for your help tonight.” And with that, he walked down the stairs without another word.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey didn’t have time to think about how she felt about the end to her and Max’s evening as Tobin pushed her further into her own apartment. Closing the door behind them, Tobin said, “soooo, ummmmm, the bad news is that we may have consumed all of the wine you had while you were gone, but have no fear! There is also good news and that good news is named Jose Cuervo.” He grabbed the bottle of Zoey’s tequila from the shelf, and then headed toward Leif and Mo in the living room. “Come tell us all about your night!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey took the shot Tobin had poured for her, and then glared at her friends almost growling, “what the </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span> are you guys still doing here?” </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Other Side of the Story</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This chapter is a little side story of what happened during the last chapter when Mo, Leif, and Tobin hung out in Zoey's apartment during her "not a date" with Max! </p><p>After much deliberation, I decided to put this chapter within the story rather than create its own separate work, but you don't necessarily need to read it for the rest of the story to make sense, so feel free to skip. More new Clarkeman content coming soon! </p><p>Thanks to @AmandaPanda425 for the idea of including this :)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>THAT,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Mo said the moment the door closed behind Max and Zoey, “is </span>
  <em>
    <span>the</span>
  </em>
  <span> Maxwell Richman that Red is always running her mouth about?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, yeah?” Leif said, unsure the point Mo was trying to prove. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you all hate that fiiiiiiiiine specimen becauuusseeeee?” Mo drew out each of his words to prove the point. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’ve had a rivalry for literally half a decade,” Tobin said with a shrug. “It all started when Max spilled coffee on Zoey the first day of work.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, I’ve heard all about CoffeeGate,” Mo continued, “but, is any spilled cup of coffee worth not having that boy’s dimples in your life?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tobin and Leif launched into story after story about the battles they’d witnessed between Max and Zoey over the years. After a particularly awkward recollection of the time that Zoey had meant to slack just Tobin and Leif a meme she’d made complaining about Max and had actually slacked the entire team the meme, Mo said, “I’m going to need some wine if there’s more.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, there’s more,” Leif said. “We’re only in year two. We’ve got three more years of stories backlogged, and I would argue the feud peaked in year four.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Tobin said, putting more thought into his answer than he put into most work days, “year two was pretty bad.”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mo walked over to Zoey’s cabinet and pulled out a bottle of wine, pouring the three of them glasses as they all settled into the living room and continued the conversation. That one bottle turned into another, and then a third was opened as they all got a little more rambunctious—closer to drunkenness than sobriety.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Still,” Mo said after Tobin finished a story about the time he and Zoey had switched all of the ink cartridges in Max’s pens so that the red ones wrote in black ink and vice versa, “you have to admit he has a more than captivating face.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, ABSOLUTELY,” Tobin admitted. “We actually have a theory Max and Zoey have been secretly dating behind our backs for the last few weeks.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Juicy!” Mo exclaimed. “Why do you think that? Don’t leave out a single detail.” Zoey had confessed to Mo that Max had sung to her the night that he brought her to her parent’s house, but insisted there was nothing in the song beyond friendship. And Mo did </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> buy it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mo realized that Leif and Tobin had clearly talked about this in-depth as they once again recalled a few stories from the last couple of months that contained an even partially civil Zoey and Max. They spoke back and forth as if they’d rehearsed who should share which parts. The time Zoey had stopped the elevator from closing so that Max could join them. How she hadn’t seemed all that upset when he’d beat her for the promotion.The time Max had brought cookies for the team and they just </span>
  <em>
    <span>happened</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be from Zoey’s favorite bakery. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, but none of those things prove there are any </span>
  <em>
    <span>feelings</span>
  </em>
  <span> happening between them,” Mo countered. “That just proves that they are two semi-functioning adults attempting to act like they have manners in their place of work.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Which is </span>
  <em>
    <span>precisely</span>
  </em>
  <span> why it’s so weird!” Leif countered. “You heard all the stories! They’ve been at each other’s throats for five years and now he just happens to be the one to drive her to her parent’s house at a party the four of us went to together? Something is fishy.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Annnnnnnd,” Tobin continued, “I saw Max go into the meditation room the other day, and then 15 minutes later Zoey did, and they were in there alone for a </span>
  <em>
    <span>long</span>
  </em>
  <span> time and she never told us anything about it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, fine,” Mo agreed, walking to the kitchen to grab the last of the wine. “That’s fishy. We all know that girl doesn’t have it in her to quiet that messy ass brain down long enough to meditate in the same room as her nemesis.” As Mo walked back toward the living room, he stopped by the window and gasped, “Oh, shit! They’re back!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mo hid behind the curtain, peeking his head out to keep watch as Tobin darted to the window and peeked around Mo to catch a glimpse as they walked up the sidewalk. Leif stayed on the couch, trying to act nonchalantly, but Tobin and Mo knew him well enough to see the glint in his eyes. He was just as curious as them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they got to the entrance, Tobin ran over to the apartment door and watched out the peephole, waiting for them to get up the stairs. He held his ear against the door when he couldn’t see anything, and then whisper shouted back to the other two “I don’t see or hear anything! What the hell are they doing out there?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eye went back to the peephole, and eventually he saw the two of them on the landing. “I can’t see what they’re actually doing,” he updated his comrades, who were perched a few feet away waiting for more news. “Curse Zoey’s curls! They’re all I can see.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tobin pushed his ear against the door again and he heard Zoey say Max’s name, so he moved back to his post at the peephole to see what happened next. After a second, Zoey’s curls got even closer to the peephole and the three apartment dwellers heard Zoey’s body hit the wall. Tobin was </span>
  <em>
    <span>absolutely, without-a-doubt, 100% sure</span>
  </em>
  <span> when he opened the door that he was going to see them kissing, but instead when he threw the door open, Zoey fell backwards into him and Max was a few feet away. Damn it. Mo and Leif scattered back toward the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought I heard something out here!” Tobin said, as he steadied Zoey firmly on her own two feet again. He might not have caught them kissing, but he wasn’t ready to give up on his theory quite yet. “How was the date, lovebirds?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It wasn’t a date,” Max said. Tobin could hear the discomfort in Max’s voice, but even he wasn’t sure if it was because Max </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted </span>
  </em>
  <span>it to be a date or because the mere idea of going on a date with Zoey disgusted him that much. “Have a good night, Zoey. Thanks again for your help tonight.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead of letting Zoey dwell on what just went down, Tobin pushed her further into her own apartment and closed the door behind him. “Soooo, ummmmm, the bad news is that we may have consumed all of the wine you had while you were gone, but have no fear!” Tobin said, “There is also good news and that good news is named Jose Cuervo.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tobin grabbed the bottle of Zoey’s tequila, four shot glasses, and then headed back toward the living room where Leif and Mo were settled, acting as if they weren’t all just competing in the whisper shouting olympics moments ago. “Come tell us about your night!” Tobin said as he poured the shots, handing them all around. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the <em>fuck</em> are you guys still doing here?” Zoey growled as she threw the shot back. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Fall For You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Max and Zoey work together on the chirp presentation and it doesn't go as planned. </p><p>Thanks to @hookedoncaptainswan again for the PERFECT heartsong suggestion of Fall For You by Secondhand Seranade!!</p><p>I'm sorry for this. Please don't hate me; I am fragile.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Joan called Max and Zoey into her office one afternoon and Zoey had a vivid flashback to when she’d done the same thing before Max’s promotion; a lot had changed since that meeting just a couple months ago, and yet, a lot remained the same. Sure, sometimes it felt like Max and Zoey had become something that resembled friends. But other times they were at each other's throats more than ever. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After their trip to Tacko, Zoey hadn’t known how to feel about their almost kiss on the landing, their trading of childhood stories at the beach. She'd tried, and failed, to compartmentalize it over the weekend, so when she stopped at Golden Gate Grind before work on Monday she decided to get Max his black coffee along with her normal order for Leif and Tobin as a means to the end of figuring out what Max was feeling—then maybe she could figure out what she was feeling, too. But then he’d barely muttered, “thank you” when she put it on his desk and she’d lost any facade of knowing what the fuck she felt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>All week they’d been in this awkward, neutral middle ground. Not outwardly rude to each other, but also not doing or saying anything beyond the bare minimum required between a manager and employee. So when Joan had called them into her office and Max gave Zoey a genuine smile after she’d held the door open for him, she was taken aback. After finally getting used to his smile being directed at her once and awhile over the last couple of weeks, this week she’d started thinking that she would never see it again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Danny Michael Davis called me today and scheduled a meeting here tomorrow to talk about the Chirp,” Joan said, wasting no time getting down to business as the coders sat. “Leif and I are finalizing the presentation, and Max, I need you to create a timeline to present Danny with the steps your team will take to get it done in the next nine months. There’s rumors floating around that Ava is trying to start a bake-off for the Chirp, and Zoey is your best programmer, so I need the two of you to work together on this tonight. Whatever it takes. It needs to be perfect.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey and Max shared a quick glance. She didn’t know whether she was happy with the assignment and one look at his face showed her he was feeling the same. Max was her nemesis, or at least used to be—she wasn’t really sure where they stood on the mutual hate thing anymore either. But even when she hated Max, she knew he was smart and talented and this project could potentially be a big step forward in both of their careers. Max seemed to be reading Zoey’s mind. “You got it,” they both said at the same time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max and Zoey got right to work, but it was a big project and they ended up staying late together once again. Hours into planning out each step needed to engineer the Chirp and assigning tasks to the team for each of those steps, Max pushed his chair back, rolling away from his desk. “We got to shake it out,” Max said as he stood up and stretched. Zoey wasn’t the praying type, but she prayed he wasn’t about to burst into Taylor Swift. The day had already been too weird. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey pretended not to notice where his dress shirt, now untucked after a long day, pulled up revealing a small sliver of skin above the waistband of his pants as he stretched. Suddenly the only thing she could think about was what Max looked like with his shirt off. And his pants. Zoey stayed where she was. “C’mon, Clarke,” he prodded. “I’m not kidding—stand up and move around a bit. We’ll be useless to Danny and Joan if we end up becoming one with these chairs.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She reluctantly got up and said, “Ssshhhhh, don’t give them any ideas!” Max grabbed a small foam ball from his desk, took a few steps away from her, and threw it in her direction; Zoey surprised both of them by catching it. She threw it back in his general direction and Max had to take a few quick steps to get it before it hit the ground. He stumbled over one of the other coder’s desk chairs and barely retained his footing, but he caught the ball. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both started laughing, the tension that had built up between them—both throughout the week due to their inability to discuss their feelings, and throughout the long night of perfecting a project as important as the Chirp—dissipating. They started making small talk as they threw the ball back and forth in the bullpen. She wasn’t used to telling Max about the gourmet grilled cheese place she’d tried for lunch and she wasn’t used to Max recommending </span>
  <em>
    <span>In The Dark</span>
  </em>
  <span>, a podcast about the disappearance of Jacob Wetterling. But she liked it, and apparently Max did too. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The best thing 'bout tonight's that we're not fighting</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Could it be that we have been this way before?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I know you don't think that I am trying</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I know you're wearing thin down to the core</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zoey had never heard the song that Max was singing, but when his voice filled the air she took in a sharp breath and unconsciously held it; she lingered on each of his words as he moved on to the next with ease. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>But hold your breath, because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you over again</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Don't make me change my mind, or I won't live to see another day</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I swear it's true.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Because a girl like you is impossible to find; you're impossible to find</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As she listened to his words, Zoey felt a familiar panic rise in her chest. Sure, Max had sung to her before. But this was markedly different. The first time he sang was about her dad and then the second about his. And sure, had both of them had clear undertones of feelings for Zoey? Absolutely. But there were no longer any doubts, any places to hide. This heartsong was explicit in its meaning, and its meaning freaked Zoey out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked down at the foam ball in her hand and made a split second decision to throw it at his face during the instrumental, knocking the heartsong out of his mind and hers. “Oh, sorry,” she said, trying to chuckle as she said it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max looked from her to the ball that had fallen to the ground and then back at her. “What’s up?” he asked, clearly picking up on her mood change. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey took a deep breath and seriously considered spilling everything to Max in that moment. She’d kept this giant secret for so long now and it was about to boil over. She hesitated, though, and instead just said, “ah, nothing. Just tired.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max clearly knew she was lying. “Tell me, Zoey,” he said softly. And she opened her mouth to do just that, but then closed it again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t. Not yet… you wouldn’t get it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why do you always do that?” he asked, anger lacing each of his words. “Why do you </span>
  <em>
    <span>always</span>
  </em>
  <span> assume the worst in me?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey didn’t like that he could read her so easily—that he always seemed to know what she was feeling, except when she wanted him to—and she lost her temper. “Because you’re always the worst!” she shouted back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>One minute Zoey and Max were playing catch, the next minute he was singing, and then the next they were throwing a laundry list of pent-up grievances from the last five years back and forth at each other. Like the time Max had told Zoey her meeting with Joan was cancelled only for Joan to think Zoey had purposely skipped it. Or when Zoey found out Max was lactose intolerant and came in early every morning for a month to move all of the oat milk options to a different fridge, telling everyone but him the new location. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The lists, and the shouting, went on. The time Max tricked her into believing every women’s restroom in the building was out of order for a day. The time Zoey, Tobin, and Leif had hacked into the security system, deactivated Max’s employee badge, and then told the front door security guard that he’d been fired and to not let him into the building under any circumstances. The countless times they’d both taken the last of something from the vending machines or staff meeting goodies just so the other couldn’t have it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, what about that time years ago when I drove us to the stupid laster tag place and you were just completely shocked that I could drive a luxury car,” Max said after Zoey had argued that at least her faults were just annoying rather than mean. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If that’s what you got out of that trip you’re dumber than I thought, Richman,” Zoey said. “I thought it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>hot</span>
  </em>
  <span> that you drove an Audi.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max paused, looked at the ground, and then looked back up at Zoey. They were standing slightly closer than they had been when they were throwing the ball, but were still separated by a desk. “So what about the other night then?” he asked, “I heard you tell Lief and Tobin that you three should still hate me, that you only went out with me to repay a dad debt. Or is that just a simple misunderstanding too?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey froze. He had </span>
  <em>
    <span>heard</span>
  </em>
  <span> that? He wasn’t supposed to hear that. But what was she supposed to do? Tell her best friends that this person who she’s hated for years due to something as stupid as some spilled coffee was starting to weasel his way into her heart? That she’d started to learn that she liked the way he made her crazy instead of hating it. That maybe his fraudulent earnest eyes maybe were just actually earnest. Well, now that she was spelling it out in her head, yes, that should’ve been what she had done. But she hadn’t. And she could hear in his voice that nothing she could say or do in this moment could convince him that it really had been a misunderstanding. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So Zoey did the only thing she could think of to turn the conversation back on him: she brought up CoffeeGate. “Okay, Max,” she said, “fine. You won’t believe that it was indeed a misunderstanding, but I get it. I’ll never believe that it was just a big misunderstanding that you drenched me in coffee our first day here because you were intimidated that I could fix your problem. And I guess if that had never happened we wouldn’t be in this whole big predicament anyway, huh?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The piano from the heartsong Max had been singing earlier picked back up, and he swung his legs around the desk he was behind so that he was sitting still on top of it as he began singing again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>This is not what I intended, I always swore to you I'd never fall apart</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You always thought that I was stronger</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I may have failed, but I have loved you from the start</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zoey felt a few tears threaten to escape her eyes. Max looked as miserable as she felt: equal parts angry, sad, and empty. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh, but hold your breath, because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you over again</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Don't make me change my mind, or I won't live to see another day</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I swear it's true.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Because a girl like you is impossible to find; you're impossible to find</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>So breathe in so deep</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Breathe me in, I'm yours to keep</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And hold on to your words cause talk is cheap</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And remember me tonight when you're asleep</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zoey was used to heart songs being cut off by someone or something else happening, but the two of them were alone in the office and Max sat there, his mouth the only thing moving. And it was so damn beautiful she couldn’t be mad about it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you over again</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Don't make me change my mind, or I won't live to see another day</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I swear it's true.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Because a girl like you is impossible to find; you're impossible to find. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he’d finished singing Zoey knew she should say something, but she couldn’t find the words to fight anymore. So when Max asked her, “why are you looking at me like that?” she answered honestly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You just sang to me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The fuck I did,” he said, resigned. “What are you talking about Zoey?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s what I was going to tell you earlier, before we started fighting. I was going to tell you that you had started singing me a love song,” she said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I would’ve remembered that,” he said. Zoey knew she wasn’t doing a good job of explaining, but she was flustered. Mo was the only other person she’d told this secret to, and she was fairly certain Max’s response to “I have a superpower” wasn’t going to be “I’m an open-minded person, so I’m willing to roll with it!” She tried anyway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have this… </span>
  <em>
    <span>superpower</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she started slowly, “like, uh, like I’m a mutant. Like the X-Men meets The Voice. Where I can hear people’s thoughts… through song.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, well,” Max responded and Zoey was hopeful for just a minute, but then he continued. “Since you’re clearly just fucking with me, maybe we should just get back to work. Maybe just forget any of this,” he said, gesturing broadly between them, “ever happened.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey was quiet for a minute as they stared at each other, his words hanging heavily in the air. She felt her stomach clench as she realized Max didn’t just mean forgetting this fight happened, but also forgetting whatever this thing that had started between them was. And as much as she’d like to believe that a few weeks of tolerating each other slightly more than normal followed by a couple nights of friendship meant something, clearly whatever it meant to her wasn’t enough to erase five years of bad blood between them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Zoey finally said, “Maybe we should.” </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Glitched</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A twist on the glitch episode! Heartsong: I'm Like A Bird by Nelly Furtado. </p>
<p>Thank you all so much for all of your comments on the last chapter. I didn't get a chance to respond to them but I appreciated each and every one. There should hopefully be a little less angst moving forward!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Maaaaaaybe I’m craaaaazzzyyyy</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Zoey sang as she stepped off the elevator. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif and Tobin were standing at the fourth floor’s front desk and both turned to look at her, then at each other, and then back at Zoey. “Zoey?” Leif asked, “You alright there?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“One might say…” Tobin said in his I-think-I’m-making-a-very-clever-joke voice, “you’re acting a little </span>
  <em>
    <span>crazy</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Was I just singing out loud?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, yeah,” Tobin and Leif answered in unison, clearly confused at her own confusion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shit. Zoey had just walked through the entire lobby of her office, apparently singing and dancing for everyone to see. “Do you guys have a minute?” she asked her best friends, and when they said yes she ushered them over to the meditation room. Apparently this is where she had serious conversations now. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as the door shut behind them, Zoey launched into her entire spiel about her power: the MRI, the mutant joke, the hearing people’s thoughts, the enlisting Mo’s help to understand the rules, some of the songs she’d heard, how it was apparently now glitching and making her sing instead. After her failure telling Max about her power last night, Zoey had practiced how she would better explain it the next time, and Tobin and Leif were attentive listeners. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she finally finished her explanation, Tobin spoke first. “So that’s what you’ve been hiding all this time?” he asked, “Here we were thinking that you were dating Max but really you can just read minds through song. Honestly? A super power makes more sense.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey didn’t know how to respond to that; she’d spent all night lying awake and thinking about Max, so clearly that wasn’t far fetched either. The only thing that had erased him from her mind was the news Dr. Hamara had given the Clarkes and her dad’s appointment this morning. Luckily, Leif spoke up next so she didn’t have to. “Listen, Zo,” he said, “I want to believe you, and you know we’ll always have your back... But, this is pretty out there.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know,” she said tentatively, “but I think I might have a way to prove it to you.” Zoey went on to explain each song she’d heard Leif sing over the last few months, adding in details that she couldn’t have </span>
  <em>
    <span>possibly</span>
  </em>
  <span> known without her power, and he seemed satisfied. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I get why you are focusing your attention on convincing you know who,” Tobin said, lifting his left hand as if it were a shield while pointing to Leif with his right hand as if Leif couldn’t see exactly what he was doing, “but can you <em>please</em> tell me about my heartsongs.” </span>
</p>
<p>Zoey explained some of her favorite of Tobin's performances, focusing specifically on his dance between her and Max in this very room when he was singing Don't Speak. Zoey decided there was one more truth they needed to know. <span>“Speaking of Max,” Zoey said, “there’s something else you should know…” </span></p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>After Zoey had word vomited weeks worth of pent-up Max feelings—the night of her dad’s fall, the night of his dad’s dinner, last night’s fight—on Tobin and Leif, they all went out to the bullpen. She was surprised how well they had taken her confession, but apparently they had been able to detect her change of feelings even before she'd admitted them to herself. Zoey refused to so much as glance in Max’s direction, but when she sat down at her desk she had a slack from him. </span>
</p>
<p><b>Max Richman</b> <span>9:28AM</span></p>
<p>
  <span>Did your Dad’s appointment go alright? </span>
</p>
<p><b>Zoey Clarke</b> <span>9:33AM</span></p>
<p>
  <span>Yup, fine. Nothing to talk about there. </span>
</p>
<p><b>Max Richman</b> <span>9:35AM</span></p>
<p>
  <span>Glad to hear it. Can you take one last glance over my presentation for Danny before the meeting at ten to make sure I didn’t miss anything? </span>
</p>
<p><b>Zoey Clarke</b> <span>9:36AM</span></p>
<p>
  <span>You got it, boss. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey looked over the report, sent Max a couple last minute changes, and then after Danny arrived and the Chirp core team settled into their meeting, she started thinking about her dad. Mitch’s medicine had stopped working and she knew that she needed to go home and deal with that, but all she really wanted to do was fly away and never look back. She wanted to fly away and never have to think about progressive supranuclear palsy or Maxwell Richman or music again. And that’s when she felt the words bubbling up in her chest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As if there was a magnet pulling her eyes to him, she glanced over at the conference room and saw Max giving his part of the presentation through the glass. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>You’re beautiful and that’s for sure</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Zoey blurted out, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>you’ll never ever fade</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Her hand flew to her face to cover her mouth as if that would stop her from continuing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before she could grasp what she was doing, Zoey was on her feet strutting over toward the conference room. She bit down on her cheek in attempts to keep her mouth shut. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>You’re lovely, but it’s not for sure and I won’t ever change</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Zoey continued singing anyway. She could feel each and every one of her immediate coworker’s eyes on her but the people in the conference room hadn't noticed yet.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey told herself to turn and go into the meditation room, but whatever was happening seemed to have complete control over not only her voice but also her body. She burst through the door, all eyes on her as Max slowly stopped his presentation. </span>
</p>
<p><span>“A</span><em><span>nd though my love is rare, and though my love is true</span></em><span>,” Zoey sang walking along one side of the table, hand dragging across the backs of the chairs her </span><b>clearly uncomfortable</b> coworkers<span> were sitting in. Zoey reached the end of the table and her body jumped up involuntarily. Her arms flew open as she started singing the chorus, “</span><em><span>I’m like a bird; I’ll only fly away</span></em><span>.” </span></p>
<p>
  <span>She slid down the table, dancing as she continued, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>I don’t know where my soul is. I don’t know where my home is</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” At that point, she reached the end of the table where Joan, Leif, and Max were standing wide eyed. “And baby all I need for you to know is,” Zoey sang, placing her hands on Max’s shoulders as he reluctantly helped her off the table, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m like a bird; I’ll only fly away</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As Zoey finished the chorus, she took a deep breath and held it for a moment. She realized she suddenly didn’t feel the need to continue, so she stood next to Max silently—just as shocked and confused as everybody else. Luckily, Max seemed to come to terms with what had just happened faster than anybody else in the room. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“When Joan and Leif first presented me with the idea of this product, I quickly realized that the Chirp is one of a kind,” Max started. “So, I encouraged my team to think outside of the box while we engineer it. Zoey did just that. When this </span>
  <em>
    <span>little birdie</span>
  </em>
  <span> is in your ear chirping away all the answers for every awkward situation—like this one—you won’t have to </span>
  <em>
    <span>fly</span>
  </em>
  <span> away!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, fine,” Danny said as he stood up. The presentation hadn’t technically been quite over, but Danny clearly had heard all he needed to. “Now it’s time for me to fly away. Joan?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As Joan rushed to Danny’s side and they continued talking, everyone in the conference room stood up and started to scatter. Zoey took that as her opportunity to run before anybody could ask her about why she had done what she had just done—or worse, before she started singing verse two. She ran to the women’s bathroom knowing it was the place most likely to avoid most of her coworkers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few minutes later, though, Max walked into the restroom as if he belonged there. “This spot taken?” he asked as he slid down the side of the wall to join Zoey on the floor, where she sat with her knees pulled up to her chest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey wrapped her arms around her legs and buried her face in her knees. “No need to get your pants dirty on this gross floor,” she said. “Just get it over with.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll survive,” Max countered, “There’s this great invention called a washing machine. You ever heard of it?” Zoey turned her head slightly to peak over at him and grinned slightly, but still didn’t say anything. Max continued talking. “And get what over with?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Firing me.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not going to fire you,” he said matter of factly. “Joan might, but I won’t. I just, uh, wanted to come in here to talk to you about…” He trailed off, took a deep breath, and started again. “Listen, I’m assuming this has something to do with the—and this is still really weird for me to say—</span>
  <em>
    <span>powers</span>
  </em>
  <span> you were trying to tell me about last night? I didn’t know you were being serious, Zoey.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She didn’t know what to say. She’d tried explaining it to him once, and she didn’t know how to go about that again so she just said, “yep.” And then she felt that same feeling start to rise up in her chest. No, no, no, no, no. She bit down </span>
  <em>
    <span>hard</span>
  </em>
  <span> on her cheek and clenched her jaw. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max waited for a second, and then when he realized she didn’t have any more to say he went on. “So, you said something about hearing people’s innermost thoughts through song?” he asked, any trace of doubt that had been in his voice earlier gone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes,” she answered stiffly, trying to bite back the need to burst out into song again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Look, Zoey, I know that I was an ass about it last night, and I’m sorry,” Max said. “But nobody could ever make up what happened back there. I’m just trying to understand. Maybe we can walk through it, line by line. Like we’re debugging code?” She couldn’t hold back anymore.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Your faith in me brings me to tears even after all these years</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Zoey sang, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>And it pains me so much to tell that you don’t know me that well</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Her voice was softer now, as if her body knew Max was the only one who needed to hear these words. She continued singing. Max watched intently as if he was hanging on every word. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And though my love is rare and though my love is true</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m like a bird; I’ll only fly away</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I don’t know where my soul is; I don’t know where my home is</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And baby all I need for you to know is it’s not that I want to say goodbye</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s just that every time you try to tell me that you love me</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Each and every single day I know I’m gonna have to eventually give you away</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As Zoey finished singing, she buried her head in her knees again. “You just sang to me,” Max said, and she flashed back to when she had said the same to him not even 24 hours ago. He sounded like he didn’t quite believe it himself.  “You just sang a love song to me.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know if I would call it a love song,” Zoey said. “The whole thing is about wanting to get away from you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Or, it’s about being afraid to take that next step,” Max said quietly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey looked up from her knees and over at him, letting herself get lost in his beautiful brown eyes for just a second. “Yeah,” she agreed, “or maybe that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They started leaning towards each other when the bathroom door swung open and they scattered apart. Tobin stood in the doorway and looked apologetically at them, whispering something under his breath that sounded remarkably like, “damn it. Not again!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Out loud he said, “Zoey, your mom’s been calling me asking if you’re alright. Something about bad news you guys got at your father’s appointment this morning? She asked me to check on you because you weren’t answering your phone and she was wondering if you could head home for the afternoon so you all can talk about everything.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey looked from Tobin to Max and then to the ground. She hadn’t told anybody at work that she’d gotten bad news at her father’s appointment but she knew she didn’t have to explain to these two. “You should go be with your dad,” Max said eventually, and Zoey knew it was more than just a manager giving his employee permission to leave for the day. “We can talk later.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Stage 2: Anger</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The slow burn continues in form of Zoey's anger.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>After her powers glitched and Zoey had to face the reality that her father’s disease was progressing, she decided the only solution to completely falling apart was to keep herself busy. She made trips to the pharmacy for her dad’s palliative care medications and the grocery store so that Maggie could spend more time with Mitch. She asked Max for more responsibilities on the Chirp project, which he freely gave now that the 4th and 6th floors were in a bake-off. She even offered to attend breastfeeding classes with Emily on the nights David couldn’t get away from work in time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey did everything she could to avoid having a spare second to think about her dad’s disease. Or Max. The two of them had friendly conversations in the weeks following her glitch, but never about anything beyond work or quick chit-chat about current events. Any time Max so much as seemed like he </span>
  <em>
    <span>might</span>
  </em>
  <span> try to bring up anything related to the song she’d sung or the deeper conversation that was left unsaid between them, she found an excuse to bail. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which was why it had come as a surprise, even to herself, that Zoey had managed to find the time to get angry at every single person that mattered in her life (and some that didn’t) over the course of about twenty-four hours. It started out slow when her parent’s favorite restaurant wouldn’t accommodate her dad’s wheelchair. And then progressed when Glen took the last of the bacon at the omelet bar. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Next, she’d screamed at Mo when he’d called her out for avoiding the tough conversations that came with her power. After going for a run to avoid Max, Zoey had collapsed on Mo’s couch complaining. She left again a minute later, however, when Mo had said, “I am not hashing this out with you again, </span>
  <em>
    <span>especially</span>
  </em>
  <span> when you’re getting sweat all over my couch. You are a grown ass woman. Go on and act like it and stop avoiding both your feelings and other people’s.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The next morning, Zoey had stopped by her parent’s house on the way to work only to get into it with Howie, and subsequently her mom, for giving her dad a sedative to help him get some sleep. Still frustrated from that encounter, when she got to work Zoey had snapped at Tobin and Leif as well. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Morning, Zoey!” Tobin said with a smile, and then when he saw she only had a cup of coffee from the cart downstairs he asked, “No Golden Gate Grind today?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not you, Tobin!” she’d snapped, “Considering I actually spend time working while I’m at work, I don’t always have time to get everybody and their brother coffee or interrupt them at the </span>
  <em>
    <span>worst possible times</span>
  </em>
  <span> or get seven servings of yogurt from the froyo bar.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin threw his hands up in surrender and said, “It’s all good, Zo, just curious if I should go grab my own.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif, on the other hands, wasn’t going to surrender so easily. “That’s not fair, Zoey,” he said. “And you know it. Tobin has been working really hard on the Chirp. And you always get our coffees on Thursdays.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey was more than happy to snap at him too. “Maybe I shouldn’t. Now that you’re no longer sleeping with our boss you probably have more than enough time to be the one to get us coffee.” Zoey knew that one was a low blow—Leif had been singing depressing heart songs since the minute Joan had ended their fling turned feelings—but she couldn’t quite find it in her to care. Even though she’d broadcast a secret relationship that had broken one of her best friend’s heart to nearly the entire office.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Surprisingly, the only person it felt like she hadn’t had an outburst at was Max. Sure, she’d been snippy at him throughout the day, but that wasn’t really anything new. So she wasn’t entirely sure why, of all the people she’d spent the day yelling at, she found herself outside of Max’s apartment with a bottle of wine ready to apologize.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey was pacing outside his apartment building, suddenly doubting that he’d believe she was showing up at his apartment late at night with a bottle of wine just to apologize. But then somebody had exited the building and held the door open for her, and she’d had no choice but to go in. She walked into the lobby and saw “Richman” on the mailbox for apartment 228, so she walked up the flight of stairs and knocked on the door before she lost her nerve. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She started pacing again in the time it took him to get the door; but when Max opened the door wearing nothing but a pair of grey joggers low on his hips, she stopped dead in her tracks. She’d never seen Max shirtless. Zoey had to force herself to stop staring at his nipples. And muscles. “Are you… secret buff?” she asked as a way of greeting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zoey?” he said, glancing at his watch and then back to her. He gave her a strange look. “What are you doing here? How do you know where I live?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can I come in?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max stepped aside, letting her in as he said, “if you answer my questions, sure.” His apartment was noticeably nicer than her own, a beautiful grand piano and comfortable looking couch in the living room. It was clean and modern, but she saw several personal touches. He sat on the couch, gesturing for her to do the same, and said, “so?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sat for a second before looking over at him, which just made her more anxious. She stood up and started pacing again. “I came over to apologize,” she started. Max let her say her piece without interrupting again. “I’ve been fucking up everything these last couple of days. I yelled at my family’s sweet caretaker and my mom and Mo and I’m sure you heard me snap at Leif and Tobin today.” Max gave her a slight grin at that, but continued listening. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Everybody </span>
  </em>
  <span>had heard her snap at Leif and Tobin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey continued, her words getting faster as she got more flustered recounting her wrongs. “And that’s just the start of it. I’ve just been so incredibly </span>
  <em>
    <span>angry</span>
  </em>
  <span> at just about anything and anyone in my path lately. And I realized tonight that I’m just...in that stage of grief, I guess? And I knew I needed to apologize to all of my friends and family for how I’ve been treating them recently, but apologizing to everyone I know seemed like too big of a task for eleven o’clock, so I thought a good place to start might be apologizing to you for… like, the last five years. Because I figure if I can get that apology out, any other apology will probably feel like a piece of cake? And I know I can’t just give you one blanket apology and assume everything will go away but I just… needed someone in my life to not hate me tonight. And you seemed like maybe the best bet because-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey was still pacing back and forth the length of Max’s couch, trying not to cry. The next time she approached him he stood up, grabbed her into a tight hug which startled her into silence. “Hey, Zo,” he said into her hair, “It’s okay. You’re okay. Nobody hates you.” The feeling of his toned muscles enveloping her certainly made her stop thinking about everybody hating her, though it was more about his body being the only thing her mind could focus on than his admittedly calming words. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max pressed a kiss on the top of her head and then pulled away so he could look at her face and repeated, “Nobody hates you.” Zoey was much more calm than she had been a minute ago. “Now, not that I don’t appreciate the apology, because I do,” Max said as he ran to a bar cart across the room to grab glasses and a corkscrew. “But how about we open that wine and talk about how you found my apartment. I can turn my eye at learning one of my employees slept with my boss because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut, but if it comes to stalking I might have to get Susan involved…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You brought me here, dummy,” Zoey said with a chuckle as she accepted a glass. It wasn’t lost on her that Max brought up HR while they were sitting in his apartment late at night. And he was shirtless. But she forced herself to continue as they both settled into the couch, “The night of Simon’s engagement party. I was about to text you that I was outside when your neighbor let me in. I saw your apartment number on the mailbox.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before Max could respond, a small cat jumped up onto Zoey’s lap and she let out a squeal. “Are you… afraid of cats?” He asked, clearly trying to hold back a laugh. “That’s Oliver, by the way. He knows you well.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He knows me well, hmm?” she said with a smirk, reaching over to pet Oliver, who’d settled in Max’s lap. “And no, not afraid of cats. He just startled me.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max took a long drink of his wine. “A little over five years ago I told him all about this woman who I’d accidentally spilled coffee all over on our first day of work,” he said. “We made this five step apology plan, but it didn’t work out very well for me.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What else did you tell him?” Zoey asked, looking down at her wine glass. She knew that if they were ever going to be able to move forward they needed to have this conversation. No matter how difficult it might be.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max just looked at her for a second; he appeared to be deciding how to phrase what came out of his mouth next. “Well, I told him about how this woman had spent the entire morning next to me—opening doors for me, smiling at the pun I made during my introduction, catching an error I made during our first training session. How I thought she seemed </span>
  <em>
    <span>so</span>
  </em>
  <span> cool,” he said. He looked down at Oliver, who was purring. Having this conversation with the context of Max talking to his cat instead of her made it feel a little less hard. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I told him about how she was the only woman in our hiring class and how I knew that was probably incredibly difficult, so I’d grabbed a cup of coffee to show her there were no hard feelings,” Max continued. “But how I’d fucked up and and how I was fumbling over my lackluster apology. And how she’d been </span>
  <em>
    <span>so</span>
  </em>
  <span> mean in response, but that I didn’t really blame her for it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey watched Max’s hand move in a small circle behind Oliver’s ears as if it were a habit. For a moment she thought he’d reached the end of his story, but then he kept going. “And as time went on I told him about how I went from this guy she’d made small talk with as we were filling up our water bottles to this guy who had thrown coffee at her,” he said. “I tried to show her that she was wrong about me, but I didn’t know how to convince her that it had all been a big misunderstanding. So I guess after awhile I just stopped trying.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey thought back to the first days and weeks she’d worked at SPRQ Point. She remembered the soft smiles he’d thrown her way any chance he got. How he’d always offered her first choice at meeting snacks and coding assignments alike. The way he had always stuck up for the changes and recommendations she made when some of her male coworkers tried to talk over her both figuratively and literally—often even more so than Leif or Tobin had. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the time, she’d interpreted all of these things as calculated moves under the notion that Max was an asshole who was always up to a constant challenge. For a variety of reasons, Zoey had assumed his occasional kindnesses had been fake… but </span>
  <em>
    <span>had it really just been real kindness this whole time</span>
  </em>
  <span>? She met his eyes for the first time in a while, flashing back to the earnestness she’d seen in them that first day. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did I really build you up as this terrible nemesis in my mind for </span>
  <em>
    <span>five years</span>
  </em>
  <span> while you sat here talking to your cat about how bad you felt for spilling coffee on me?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah, it wasn’t all in your head,” Max assured her with a grin. “After a while I really started to hate your guts, or at least thought I did. Then I just ranted to Oliver about you instead, which, I guess in hindsight should have been my first clue that I liked you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey laughed, almost choking on the sip of wine she was swallowing. Max’s actions had shown he liked her for quite some time, but he had never uttered those words out loud. At least not to her. “I ranted about you to Tobin and Leif, too,” she admitted, hoping he’d read between the lines to what she left unsaid. She liked him too—so much so that she was too afraid to say it out loud. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Ghosted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Zoey ghosts Max, but not for the reason he thinks.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: Canon timeline changes a little bit with this chapter. If the last chapter lightly corresponded with Episode 10, this chapter moves up the events of episode 12 up to the following days. </p>
<p>Also, I am not Jewish and I don’t have a lot of experience writing Jewish characters, so I hope that I wasn’t problematic in any way when talking about Shiva; I tried to research the customs/traditions, but if there are any problems with what I wrote please reach out and I will do my best to learn more to correct any mistakes.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Max made Zoey leave after they finished their wine; it wasn’t that he didn’t want her to stay—and he was pretty sure she wanted to stay, too—but if they were going to start whatever they were going to start, he knew it couldn’t be with a late night hookup after a little too much wine. But </span>
  <em>
    <span>god damn</span>
  </em>
  <span> it was hard to watch her leave. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had already requested the next day off to spend her parent’s anniversary with them, so when he got to work on Friday and he realized he wouldn’t see her again until Monday morning, a fresh wave of regret washed over him. The day drug by without her, and then the night wasn’t much better. All he could think about while he was watching a movie was that the night before she’d been sitting on the couch with him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Saturday morning came and he was still thinking about Zoey, Max stared at his phone screen for a solid hour trying to think of something, </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything</span>
  </em>
  <span> that he could text her about. Eventually he decided to just shoot his shot and ask her if she wanted to grab a beer at Black Hammer Brewing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His confidence in the text fell every minute she didn’t respond; in the hours that followed, he reread it several times before deciding that she wasn’t going to answer. It didn’t stop him from immediately checking his SPRQ Watch any time he got a notification in hopes that it was her, though. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, Max decided to ask Simon if he wanted to grab a beer instead. Despite her apparent fears, he wasn’t giving up on the idea of dating Zoey—he’d admitted to himself weeks ago that he knew this would be a long game—but he did need to try to get his mind off of her momentarily. The two of them met up and had a few drinks while watching whatever UFC fight was replaying on the tv. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Max buddy?” Simon asked, pulling Max back to the room he was in. He’d been thinking about Zoey again, hoping everything was okay. “What’s up, man? You seem like something is bothering you tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max spilled everything: how he and Zoey had been becoming closer over the previous months, her showing up at his apartment, his failed invitation earlier. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sure she’s just nervous,” Simon assured him. “You guys have been going at it for years. I’m sure she’ll have an explanation at work next week! You just gotta be patient.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was easier said than done, though. On Sunday morning when there was still no response from Zoey, he shut down his phone for the day and kept busy with errands, Oliver, and working out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max had never been so excited about a Monday morning; he even risked a possible run-in with Autumn to get Zoey a latte from Golden Gate Grind. Luckily, Autumn wasn’t working, so he safely delivered Zoey’s drink on her desk just a few minutes before she usually arrived—he wasn’t going to risk another CoffeeGate by handing it to her directly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But then 8 o’clock came and Zoey wasn’t there. And then 8:15, and then 8:30, and Max was getting anxious. He’d assumed her not responding to his text was because she’d been nervous about </span>
  <em>
    <span>them</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Now he was the nervous one and it had nothing to do with their relationship. A few minutes later, he heard the elevator open and his head shot up to see if Zoey was among the people arriving. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had a quick moment of hope when he saw Leif and Tobin, but then he saw their faces—and that she wasn’t with them. They both wandered slowly to his desk. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry we’re late, boss,” Leif said. Usually when he called Max ‘boss’ he did so sarcastically, but there was no sarcasm present today.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin had visible tears in his eyes when he said, “uh, so, Zoey already emailed Joan about being gone today.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Good</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Max thought. </span>
  <em>
    <span>If she was emailed Joan that meant she was okay</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “But, uh, I think she wanted you to know that Mitch passed away late last night.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh. Oh God</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “Fuck,” Max said, forgetting where he was and that he was technically talking to his employees. He shook his head a bit, trying to clear it. “I, uh. Is there anything that I can do?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe, just…” Leif trailed off. “Just do whatever you guys do. Let her know that you’re there. Maybe a quick text or something.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max nodded. They stood in place. The three of them just looked at each other for a minute, none of them knowing what to do. The room suddenly felt more empty than it had just a few minutes ago. “Thanks for letting me know, guys,” Max said eventually. “I know that you guys are really close, so if you’d like to go be with Zoey or eat your feelings or whatever, I completely understand. We can cover your Chirp assignments for the day.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thanks, Max,” Leif responded. “But I think we’d just like to get to work.” They both walked to their desks. Tobin looked like a lost puppy dog; he’d never been so quiet in all the years Max had known him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max knew he needed to get to work. With Zoey gone for at least the week and Leif and Tobin clearly not operating at one hundred percent, they were bound to fall behind on the Chirp. But he just spent most of the day staring at the latte that sat untouched on Zoey’s desk. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the work day ended, Max sent Zoey a text letting her know that he was thinking about her and that he was sorry. Then he went home and started baking. Max wasn’t the best cook, but when he was a kid his grandma had taught him how to make every dessert in every cookbook she owned. And she had a lot of them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He made peanut butter cookies adorned with chocolate chips and then his grandma’s top-secret babka. He ran to the market and grabbed some chocolates, tequila, a stress relief ball, a decorative pillow for screaming or crying into, and a basket to put it all in before driving to Zoey’s apartment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He went up to the stairs and dropped the basket at the door before heading back down toward the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Max?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stopped, turning back up to see Zoey standing on the landing where he’d almost kissed her the last time he was here. She looks so small, dressed in a dark green hoodie and leggings. “Oh, hey,” he said as he walked back up the stairs to join her. “I just assumed you’d still be at your parent’s house.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I came home to shower and sleep in my own bed for a night,” she said. “I’d been there since Friday, and the twin size bed in my childhood bedroom wasn’t doing it for me anymore.” Zoey looked down at the basket he’d left. “What’s this?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, just a little grief basket I threw together for you,” Max said with a shrug. “When I was growing up I helped my Grandma and Grandpa prepare Shiva baskets for people they knew, so I guess I just react to death with baking.” He’d reached toward the basket and pulled the bottle of tequila out. “But the good news for you is that since you’re not sitting Shiva, you can have alcohol in your basket.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey threw herself into Max’s arms the second he put the bottle back in the basket. They sat on the landing for several minutes—neither of them moving or talking. He refused to be the one to pull away first, so he just stood there doing what he could to be whatever Zoey needed him to be. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually she did pull away, looking up at him with puffy eyes; even being as exhausted as she clearly was, Zoey’s eyes were still the most magical thing Max had ever seen. <em>He was a fucking goner</em>. “What can I do for you?” he asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe just… sit here with me?” she said. “I don’t want to do anything or talk, but I also don’t want you to leave yet.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You got it,” Max said. They walked into her apartment and she set the grief basket down on her table before they both sat on the couch. They were close but not touching when Zoey reached out and grabbed Max’s hand; he squeezed tight and held it. Zoey’s eyes eventually drifted shut, and then her breathing slowed as she started leaning into his shoulder. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zo?” Max whispered, “Do you want to go to your bedroom?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She mumbled something unintelligible in answer, but Max thought back to her comment on her childhood bed and decided the couch they were on probably wasn’t much better. He stood and picked her up into his arms, still holding her hand. Zoey buried her head into his chest as he maneuvered into her bedroom, tucking her in under the quilt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max waited for a second to make sure she stayed asleep, softly kissed the hand he was still holding, and whispered, "Goodnight, Zoey." </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Moving Forward—or not.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Zoey tries to get back to normal</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Special thanks to @TheAuthor44 for recommending Count On Me by Bruno Mars weeks ago for this fic. I knew then I needed to fit it in and I finally was able to :) </p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Zoey woke up the next morning, she was alone in her bedroom. She had just a moment where she almost smiled, but then her head started pounding and the memories of her dad’s death flooded her mind. She rolled over and grabbed her phone and saw she had two texts from Max. </span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p><b>Max Richman</b> <span>12:28AM</span></p>
<p>
  <span>I headed home once you were asleep. If you wake up in ten minutes or ten hours and need somebody to just sit with you again, I can be back in fifteen minutes. </span>
</p>
<p><b>Max Richman</b> <span>12:29AM</span></p>
<p>
  <span>Let me know when anything in your basket needs replenishing. I’m really, really sorry, Zoey.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Zoey took a quick shower, grabbed her grief basket, and then headed back to her parent’s house; since they had already prepared most of the details of the funeral, there wasn’t much to do for the next few days. But she didn’t want to be alone, and more than that, she didn’t want her mom to be alone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she got there she walked into the living room to find her mom, David, and Emily sitting quietly and she pressed a quick kiss to her mom’s cheek. Her dad’s spot was empty, but she refused to sit there so she set the basket on the coffee table and slid down against the wall to use it as a backrest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s this?” Maggie asked, looking at the contents of the basket. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Max put together a little grief basket for me and dropped it off last night,” she said. “Feel free to have anything you find. The cookies are really good.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That was very nice of him,” Maggie said. “Your dad asked about him a lot after he stopped by the house.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who is Max?” Emily asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Her manager,” David supplied. Zoey could see all of the pieces of the story clicking in Emily’s eyes. “You probably know him better as Maxamoron or The Bastard of SPRQFell.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What does The Bastard of SPRQFell even mean?” Maggie asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s one of Tobin and Leif’s nicknames for him,” Zoey said. “They came up with this idea that Max cosplayed as Jon Snow from Game of Thrones in his free time.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought you guys hated him?” Emily said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey used to complain to her family frequently about Max, but the last few months she’s not only stopped complaining about him but essentially stopped mentioning him at all. She didn’t know how to bring up changes in her love life while her dad was in the process of dying, and the immediate aftermath of his death didn’t feel like the time either. “We used to,” she said, hoping the answer would suffice without the need for more conversation on the topic. She should’ve just left the damn basket at home. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>David had grabbed a piece of babka and shoved it in his mouth, so when he nearly screamed, “I KNEW IT!” he sprayed bread crumbs everywhere. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You knew what?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zoey has a big ‘ol crush on Max,” David said. “I knew that there was no real explanation for him bringing her home the night dad fell besides them being on a date.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m more thankful for this basket by the minute,” Zoey said, grabbing the bottle of tequila and taking a long pull straight from the bottle. “Because I am not having this conversation without some alcohol in my bloodstream. Even if it is ten in the morning.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She didn’t deny it,” Maggie said with a smirk on her lips. Zoey was almost mad, but it was so endearing to see her mother look anything but broken that she decided not to let the conversation get to her. And, well, she didn’t deny it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dropping off cookies and tequila gets him an A plus from me,” Emily said as she pulled a second cookie out of the Tupperware container. “Even if I can only partake in half of it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Me too,” Zoey admitted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>David took the bottle of tequila and took a swig and then passed it back to Zoey who took another.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hand it over,” Maggie said. All three of the other eyes grew wide. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey gave her mom the bottle and asked, “Do you at least want some lime with it?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m no stranger to tequila, Zoey,” Maggie said as she took a drink. “It’s been a few years, but your father and I went to Cancun one summer and did nothing but swim and drink and… a few other things for a week straight.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Get it, Mags,” Emily said with a giggle at the horrified looks on David and Zoey’s faces. Zoey thought back to the night her dad sang Moondance and smiled as Maggie handed the bottle back to her. She couldn’t help but smile a little. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The alcohol wasn’t the only thing that made the next few days blur together; the Clarkes were living in this weird parallel reality where they existed in the same space as everyone they knew, but time didn’t seem to work the same. Everyone else’s world seemed to keep going, while theirs stopped. Zoey ran to pick up a pizza one night and the world moved at the same pace as it always did. All that she could think was, </span>
  <em>
    <span>don’t these people know my dad just died</span>
  </em>
  <span>? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The wake and funeral passed in a blur, too. Zoey was surrounded by her family and her friends almost all of the time. Max stopped by her apartment to just sit with her any time she asked—day or night. So although Joan had told her to take all of the time she needed, Zoey wanted to get back to work the next week. She thrived under structure, and as hard as it was she knew that her dad wouldn’t want her to be miserable just for the sake of it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On the Monday following the funeral Zoey set her alarm, dressed in her favorite sweater, and headed into Golden Gate Grind to grab coffee before going to the office. When she stepped off of the elevator in SPRQ Point, Zoey immediately felt every set of eyes in the bullpen on her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zoey, you’re here!” Leif said with a smile. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin jumped up and nearly tackled her with a big bear hug. “I missed you,” he said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tobin, I saw you two days ago,” she responded with a smirk. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Welcome back, Zoey,” Max said, glancing up from his desk. “I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.” He didn’t dare move toward her, not knowing how much she had told Tobin and Leif. It’s not that anything had happened between the two of them, but he had spent many hours sitting quietly in her apartment over the past week and he wasn’t sure if that was something she wanted broadcast, so Max decided it was best to keep everything casual at work.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can’t let the sixth floor win the bake-off and we all know I’m the best coder here,” she said as she sat at her desk and powered on her computer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The day went by quickly, but by the end of the day Zoey was more than ready to be done with work. All day, everybody around her had coddled her. Max said he didn’t have a new assignment ready for her so that she could catch up from being gone, but she knew that everyone was behind on the Chirp and there was more than enough for her to do. Leif brought her a new cup of coffee every hour on the hour. She was pretty sure he had set calendar reminders. Tobin sent memes more than every hour on the hour. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Tobin and Leif had invited Max to join them and Zoey for lunch, all three of them stumbled over each other for an hour trying to be the one that was most helpful—grabbing refills, offering to pay, opening doors. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ready to go home, Zo?” Tobin asked a few minutes before five. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can drop you off so you don’t have to walk!” Leif added. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m going to stay just a couple more minutes to get this last piece of code finished,” she responded. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s no problem!” Max said, “That can definitely wait until tomorrow. You should go home!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, Peter, Michael, and Jack,” Zoey said, pointing to each of them. “I’ll be done if it’s such a big deal.” They all stared at her with equally blank expressions. “They’re the characters in Three Men and a Baby, since you’ve all been spoon-feeding me like an infant all day long. Speaking of, where’s my feather bed? It’s almost naptime.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They all smiled and muttered apologies. “Sorry, Zo,” Tobin said. “We’re just worried about you. What can we do instead to help?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I just want to do something </span>
  <em>
    <span>normal</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she said, exasperated. Life wasn’t supposed to be normal right now, but Zoey desperately wanted to feel something other than miserable. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How about we all go grab a drink?” Max asked after a few moments of silence. “Maybe a brewery or winery?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, let’s go to Temple!” Zoey said as they all started packing up their stuff and heading toward the elevator. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure you want to go somewhere so…” Leif started, but one glare from Zoey later he threw his hands up in surrender. “Temple is great! I’ll put my dancing cardigan on.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Perfect!” Zoey said with a smile. “Meet at mine and Mo’s apartment at 9 and we can all walk over there together.” Zoey went home, told Mo about the plan, and ate some leftover Chinese while she got ready. She changed into a dress that was shorter and tighter than almost anything else she owned and put on a little extra makeup, and then waited for the boys to all show up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually they did, and Zoey, Max, Leif, Tobin, and Mo started walking down the street together. For a few minutes, they made easy conversation. Everyone was clearly trying to avoid the elephant in the room. “Thanks for coming out with me tonight,” Zoey eventually said. “I really needed to just escape for a minute.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea, I’ll sail the world to find you</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Leif sang in response. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can’t see, I’ll be the light to guide you</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Tobin picked up the next line as they all continued walking. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Find you what we’re made of when we are called to help our friends in need</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Mo sang next. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And then all four of them started singing together—skipping around Zoey, spinning her in circles, running their hands down her arms or across her jaw, throwing their arm around her shoulders. The harmonies were impeccable. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You can count on me like one, two, three,</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’ll be there</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And I know when I need it I can count on you like four, three, two, </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You’ll be there</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘Cause that’s what friends are supposed to do</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Mo, Tobin, and Leif fell a step behind as Max stepped in front of Zoey and took her hands, walking backwards down the sidewalk as he sang the next verse. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>If you’re tossin’ and you’re turning’ and you just can’t fall asleep</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’ll sing a song beside you</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And if you ever forget how much you really mean to me</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Everyday I will remind you</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Mo sang the pre-chorus again, followed by a somehow even more beautiful repetition of the chorus. Seriously, her friends could be in the best damn band in the world. Max picked back up the lead for the bridge. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You’ll always have my shoulder when you cry </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’ll never let go, never say goodbye</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You know you can count on me</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The song ended as they arrived at the club. None of them seemed to notice anything odd, but Zoey couldn’t help but blurt out, “you guys just sang me the cutest heartsong.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I bet Max and I’s voices absolutely SLAPPED together,” Mo said with a satisfied grin, and Max smiled too. “We should do a proper duet sometime, baby.” The group all walked into the club and pounding music filled their ears as they walked to the bar and ordered drinks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They threw back a few rounds of shots and drinks before heading out to the dance floor. The group danced in a small circle, completely surrounded by other people but sticking together. After a few songs Mo shouted, “I see one of my friends over there! I’ll be right back.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few minutes later, a girl nearby asked Tobin to dance, and they drifted apart from the group. Leif looked down at his hands and then back up at Max and Zoey. Their small circle had gotten smaller without the space Tobin and Mo took up. “I’m going to…” Leif looked around for any excuse to leave the two of them alone. He didn’t need to third wheel tonight. “Go to the bathroom!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then it was just Max and Zoey. They got a little closer, sharing bashful glances when they thought the other wasn’t looking. They were flushed, they were sweaty, and all the alcohol was starting to catch up with both of them. Somebody ran into Zoey’s back, causing her to fall into Max’s chest. He easily steadied her, but her hands were still on his chest and his arms were still wrapped around her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey looked up at Max, who was biting his bottom lip. Hard. She reached up onto her tip toes and kissed him. Zoey felt Max get tense for a second, and then they relaxed against hers. His hands were on the small of her back holding her flush against him and his lips were moving in time with hers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After just a few seconds, though, Max seemed to realize what was happening. He stopped moving, and then he pulled away and pushed her slightly away from him. His lips were swollen, his eyes shining, his cheeks rosy. “Not now, Zo,” he said. “Not like this.” </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Filler Fluff</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A lot happens in this chapter, but it's also mainly just filler to get the story moving toward the next event, so here's a little sneak peak to catch your interest: Fuck, he thought, I love that girl with my whole damn heart.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hiiiiiiii, sorry it's taken me so long to update this! </p><p>The good/bad news is that I've finally planned out how I want to end this story so hopefully I will be updating more regularly again until I get there. I'm aiming to end it at 20 chapters, so prepare yourselves!! In a utopia I will be finishing it in the next few days before I disappear into the wilderness to hike later on this week. :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Not now, Zo,” Max said. “Not like this.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The hurt on her face was immediately evident. Max tried to grab her hand to lead her somewhere quieter so that they could talk, but she pulled it away from him and started weaving between the crowd. Max tried to follow her, but Zoey was a lot smaller than him and could squeeze past people with much more ease. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stood on his tiptoes and saw her red curls break free of the crowd and head toward the door. He knew he’d done the right thing by turning her down when she was drunk and her grief was still so fresh, but he understood why she was upset with him and guessed that he was maybe not the person that she’d want to comfort her right now; so, instead of following her, Max scanned the people around him until he landed on a familiar face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He made his way to where Tobin was dancing with the girl he’d deserted the group for earlier. His emotions must’ve been written on his face, because when Max reached them and Tobin saw him he immediately stopped dancing and asked, “What’s up, bro?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Zoey just left,” he shouted. “And I think that I’m the last person she needs right now. Can you go check on her?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tobin said something in the girl’s ear that he had been dancing with and then turned back to Max. “I’ve got her. Can you let Mo and Leif know I’m bringing her home?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max nodded, and then Tobin as rushed toward the door he started scanning the bar club again to find the other two. Eventually he spotted Leif by the bar, so he made his way over to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh hey, Max,” he said. “Where’s Zoey?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She left,” Max responded. “She, uh, kissed me. And I stopped her. And she left. I sent Tobin after her, but wanted to let you know he said he was bringing her back to her place and that you could meet them there.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I should probably go check on them then,” Leif said. He had a sad smile on his face. He hesitated for a moment, and then continued. “Max, you did the right thing. She’ll see that.” Leif patted Max’s shoulder a couple of times and then headed toward the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max found Mo and filled him too before heading home for the night. He fell into bed and spent most of the night staring at the ceiling thinking about Zoey. Worrying about Zoey. He thought about texting Tobin to make sure he'd found her, but decided that was reaching a bit too far. He dozed on and off for a few hours, but when the sun started to rise in the sky he decided to give up any hope of feeling rested and instead turned to coffee as his source of energy for the day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then, because he was not about to have their first conversation after they’d kissed for the first time in the SPRQ Point bullpen, Max made his way to Zoey’s apartment. He knocked on the door and waited a few seconds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey groggily opened the door and crossed her arms over the NASA logo on her chest, clearly waiting to see what he had to say. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning,” he started slowly. “I was hoping we could talk about last night before heading to work.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not now,” she said with a hint of a smirk on her face, “not like this.” And then Zoey slammed the door in Max’s face. He probably deserved that. But he also wasn’t about to give up. He slid down the wall; Zoey had to leave her apartment at some point and he was going to be there when she did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few minutes later, the door opened and Max jumped up only to be met with disappointment when Tobin walked out dressed in the same clothing he’d been wearing the night before. Tobin must’ve read his face again, because he said. “Sorry, man, she’s still getting ready for work. Sit tight. I’m going home to change before heading to the office.” </span>
  <span>Max waved goodbye as he settled back into his spot on the landing. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Zoey’s head was still pounding when she stepped out of the shower and started getting ready; whose idea was it to go out and take several shots on a Monday night? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh yeah, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she remembered, </span>
  <em>
    <span>it was her’s</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she finished getting ready, she took a deep breath and opened the door—knowing that Max would still be there waiting for her. She wasn’t actually mad at him anymore. She had been for a minute the previous night, but by the time Tobin had caught up with her walking alone toward her apartment she’d pretty much been over it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leif had stopped by the store to get three pints of Ben &amp; Jerry’s before meeting her and Tobin back at her apartment, and then the three of them did what they should have done originally when Zoey was feeling down: sat in sweatpants watching Moana, eating ice cream, and shedding the occasional tear.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But even though Zoey knew Max had made the right move, when she opened the door this morning and saw him standing there looking </span>
  <em>
    <span>so good</span>
  </em>
  <span> while she was hungover in her pajamas, she couldn’t help but make him sweat for a few minutes. Their rivalry was too deeply ingrained in her bones. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she opened the door, he hopped up from where he was sitting on the ground and looked at her with a soft smile. “How about now?” he asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t help but smile back at him. Zoey gestured for him to go on as they started heading down the stairs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, Zo, I can’t know what’s going through your mind right now. There’s no way that I can understand what you’re going through. So if you think you are really ready to talk about us, I’ll be right here waiting,” he said. They both got in his car and he continued. “But I also really don’t want to rush this while you are in the immediate aftermath of your dad’s death.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoey didn’t live far from SPRQ Point, so Max pulled into his parking spot and then turned the car off and faced Zoey. “So I guess what I’m saying,” he continued, “is that we have plenty of time to discuss what happened, which I am sure we will do ad nauseam, but for now if you want to focus on yourself I am more than happy to patiently wait while you do.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And wait he did. In the coming days and weeks, Max was there for Zoey in all of the best ways. He was there for her when she needed it and gave her space when she needed that. She was pretty sure he’d worked out a schedule with Tobin and Leif to make sure that the days they all randomly just happened to drop by with dinner didn’t overlap, and he even sent her mom and David and Emily meals, too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>One night Max and Zoey were grabbing burgers and beer after they had stayed a few hours later to finish up a project on the Chirp, when Zoey’s phones started ringing. She almost sent it to voicemail, but saw it was David. He didn’t call her often, so she picked her phone up in a panic. “David? What’s wrong?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing’s wrong!” He responded, “but you’re about to be an Auntie!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As it turned out, Emily had gone into labor that morning, but because of several false alarms the Braxton Hicks contractions had caused over the last few weeks, they’d waited to tell anybody until they were sure. </span>
  <span></span><br/>
<span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Oh my god,” Zoey said as she hung up. “I have to go! Emily is in labor.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A big smile broke out on Max’s face. “I’ll take care of the bill so you can get going,” he said. “Make sure to send pictures when you have them!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should come with,” Zoey said before she could think better of it. “Who knows how many hours I’ll have to sit in the waiting room. I could use some distraction! And my mom has been dying for a chance to thank you for the flowers you sent last week.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max couldn’t say no, so they headed to the hospital together. Max, Zoey, and Maggie sat together in the Labor &amp; Delivery waiting room for about an hour or so before David came out and said, “Are you guys ready to meet Peter Mitchell Clarke?” Maggie squealed, running to David to give him a hug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll get going,” Max said quietly to Zoey, giving her a quick hug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve waited this long!” David said, clearly having overheard. “You might as well come see him, Max. The more the merrier!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max hesitated, but the Clarkes all pressured him into joining them as they walked down to Emily’s room. David picked Peter up and put him in Maggie’s open arms as Zoey watched closely. All of their eyes were full of love. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Max walked to Emily’s bed and gave her an awkward grin. “Sorry if my being here is weird,” he said with an chuckle. “But your family is quite convincing, and your kid is pretty damn cute. Congratulations!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Max,” she said with a smile. “You’re always welcome. And he better be for all the hours of labor!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Max turned back to the Clarkes, Maggie was passing Zoey the baby. Her entire face lit up. He hadn’t seen her smile like that for a long time, and it immediately put a smile on his face, too. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love that girl with my whole damn heart</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. One Last Angst for the Road</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You know how usually it's Angst with a Fluffy ending? </p>
<p>Well.... This is Fluff with an Angsty ending. Sorry😬</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Peter turned six months old, Zoey offered to babysit so that David and Emily could go out for a nice meal together. During the last few months, Zoey had fallen into an easy pattern. She went to work, she spent most evenings hanging out with her mom or David and Emily and Peter or her friends, and she tried her best to help solve whatever heartsong problems fell into her lap. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>David and Emily dropped Peter off at her apartment on their way out for the night. The first few times that Zoey had babysat Peter there had been a few diaper disasters and more puke in her hair than she thought possible; now, though, she was essentially a pro. As long as he wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>too </span>
  </em>
  <span>tired or </span>
  <em>
    <span>too </span>
  </em>
  <span>hungry or </span>
  <em>
    <span>too</span>
  </em>
  <span> spit-upy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Peter was starting to rock back and forth on his hands a little bit, but he wasn’t crawling yet so they sat together on a frog shaped playmate she'd gotten to keep at her apartment. It had a bladder full of water and shapes for Peter to move around, and it kept him busy for quite some time. When he started to get a little fussy, Zoey picked him up and started rocking him back and forth a bit as she walked slowly around her apartment like Emily and David often did when he was sad. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she passed her telescope, Peter reached his hand out and grabbed it. He was transfixed on it—eyes wide with wonder. “Be careful with that, little one,” she said, suddenly glad she’d wiped his hands off after feeding him his bottle and baby peaches. He'd somehow managed to get orange goo <em>everywhere</em>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your Dad will be your go to for any of the humanities disciplines, and your Mom majored in sociology during undergrad, so she’s got the social sciences covered,” Zoey continued as Peter explored the telescope from her arms, “but Auntie Zoey will teach you all about space and computer science.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Peter moved his hand to his face, rubbing his eyes and a big yawn took over his face. Zoey moved to the couch, settling him into the crook of her elbow and continued talking in a slow, soothing voice as she rocked him gently.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your Grandpa Mitch bought me my very first telescope,” Zoey said. “I don’t think he knew very much about space at the time, but when I was in elementary school and he showed me how to find all my favorite constellations, I thought he was an absolute genius.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She smiled, thinking back to that night and the many like it—her dad doing whatever he could to encourage her, even when he probably didn’t know the best way to do so. And then she realized she was still smiling. It was the first time Zoey could remember talking about her Dad without tears involuntarily taking over since he’d died. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She wasn’t doing </span>
  <em>
    <span>well</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be doing well without him. But between Peter’s ever-present smile at family gatherings, movie nights with Tobin &amp; Leif, coffee dates with Mo, and Max’s constant support in all that she did, Zoey felt a wave of peace wash over her. She was doing okay. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He really would’ve loved you,” she said partially to Peter, whose eyes were struggling to stay open, but also just to the universe in hopes that her Dad was somewhere he could feel her love for him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Peter eventually fell into a deep sleep, and Zoey knew that David would tell her to put him in his pack and play so that he didn’t get too used to sleeping with another human’s body warmth, but she </span>
  <em>
    <span>just couldn’t put him down</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The two of them sat there on her couch for another couple of hours—Peter fast asleep while she scrolled through her phone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sent a quick picture to Leif and Tobin’s group chat, and then switched over to her texts with Max and sent him the photo too with the caption, “the cutest little sunshine you’ve ever seen, huh?” </span>
</p>

<p></p><blockquote>
  <p><b>Max Richman</b> <span>8:47PM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>Duh! And Peter is pretty cute, too. </span>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>
  <span>Zoey’s heart started beating faster the second she read it, mainly because he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>openly flirting </span>
  </em>
  <span>with her, but also a little bit because she realized there was no reason they shouldn’t be openly flirting. Had holding off on starting a new relationship directly following her dad’s death been the right call? Absolutely. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Zoey couldn’t think of a single reason that they shouldn’t be together at this point. She knew she wasn’t ever going to be over what had happened to her dad, but she also knew that had nothing to do with Max. She was not using him as a placeholder for grief. She was simply in love with Maxwell Richman. And if Zoey knew anything it was that her dad would want her to shout that from the rooftops. </span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Zoey jumped out of bed the second her alarm went off the next morning; she was fairly certain she could make it through this day running on pure adrenaline as she prepared to tell Max that she was </span>
  <em>
    <span>really ready</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She stopped by the Golden Gate Grind anyway, though. A little extra boost couldn’t hurt, right? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good morning!” Zoey said to her coworkers as she settled into her desk. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Somebody is chipper today,” Leif said with a questioning look. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She physically could not stop her eyes from looking over at Max. The corners of her mouth turned up into a smile. “I guess I’m just having a good day,” she said with a shrug. </span>
</p>

<p></p><blockquote>
  <p><b>Zoey Clarke</b> <span>8:02AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>Do you have any plans tonight? There’s something I want to talk to you about.</span>
  </p>
  <p><b>Max Richman</b> <span>8:16AM</span></p>
  <p>
    <span>I actually have something I need to talk to you about, too. Want to come over after work?</span>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>
  <span>Zoey was so excited to tell Max she loved him, that she didn’t even think about the fact that what he needed to tell her could be anything but something else that was <em>good</em>. Until Joan walked into the bullpen a few minutes before five and said, “Oh, Max! Good, you’re still here. Can you come to my office and sign your transfer paperwork quickly before you go?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Transfer paperwork? </span>
  </em>
  <span>That couldn’t be, right? She must've misheard. Transfer paperwork would mean that Max wasn’t going to be working with her any more. And he certainly would have told her that. Right? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Right</span>
  </em>
  <span>?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked over at Max, hoping to be consoled by a smile that would say, “this is just a big misunderstanding! Let me explain!” Instead, she saw a face that said, “well, shit.” </span>
  <span>Out loud, Max said, “Sure, Joan.” Their boss was already walking toward her office. Before following her, Max stopped at Zoey’s desk. “Can you just please wait for a minute and I’ll explain everything?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey nodded, and Max walked away. She fully intended to let him explain, but the second he disappeared, her mind started to wander. Zoey’s mind flooded with memories of all of the fights they’d had over the years, which turned into her brain throwing out all of the reasons they shouldn’t be together.</span>
  <em>
    <span> Namely, if she meant even half as much to him as he did to her, he certainly would have told her that he was transferring. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And suddenly she had to get the hell out of there. She grabbed her bag and headed to the stairs, unable to stand and wait for the elevator. She ran down all four flights, and then slowed as she walked through the lobby. When she was outside SPRQ Point, she regained her speed, jogging toward her apartment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How had she let herself do this? Fall for someone who clearly didn’t feel the same way? How had she managed to build up Max as somebody he wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>again</span>
  </em>
  <span>?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she got to her apartment, Max’s Audi was parked on the street and he was waiting outside the complex’s door. “Zoey, can we please talk about this?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you transferring?” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” </span>
  <span></span>
    <br/>
  
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Where to?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The sixth floor.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Somehow that made it hurt </span>
  <em>
    <span>even more</span>
  </em>
  <span>. For nearly a year she and Max had spent countless hours working on the Chirp together to beat the sixth floor, just for him to switch teams just before the finish line? Zoey pushed past him into the building and up the stairs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He followed, saying, “Look, Clarke,” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That made Zoey stop in her tracks. For years that had been the only name he’d referred to her as; recently, he favored Zoey or, when things were a little more emotional, Zo. If she wasn’t so upset, Zoey was sure she could find a metaphor in there somewhere.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was going to tell you tonight!” he pleaded as they got onto the landing. Zoey unlocked the door to her apartment. “I just…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey slammed the door in his face again, and this time she didn’t plan on opening it back up. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You all seemed to love that door slam last chapter so much.... I thought I'd give you another one!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Defenseless</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The aftermath of the door slam leaves everybody feeling defenseless. </p>
<p>Heartsong (you guessed it): Defenseless by Louis Tomlinson.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Max spent a long time knocking on Zoey’s door. So long that eventually Zoey heard Mo open his door and say, “Listen, Maximilian, you can wait outside that door all night long and that girl will not open it. She is more stubborn than a mule. You might as well give your hand and my eardrums a rest.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>While Zoey appreciated Mo coming to her defense, when the knocking ended she didn’t feel any better. She went about her night, trying—and failing—to keep Max off her mind. She thought about texting him, but she didn’t. She thought about calling him, but she didn’t. She even thought about going over to his apartment again… but she didn’t do that, either. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually she tried to go to bed, though she didn’t get much sleep. She was anxious all morning as she thought about seeing him at SPRQ Point, but that worry was for naught because when she opened the door he was still sitting there on the landing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His tired eyes met hers. “Zoey, can we talk now?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’d better go take a shower, Richman,” she said, trying not to think about the fact that he’d sat there all night long waiting for her. “You look like shit and I’m not sure Ava will accept that wrinkled shirt for your first day of work outfit.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t transfer until Monday.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well then, Boss, you better go shower so you can inform all of your employees that you are leaving the team,” she responded, heading quickly down the stairs and out the door before Max had the chance to follow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once they were both at work, a freshly showered but still exhausted looking Max didn’t try to talk to Zoey about the transfer. She did feel like his eyes had settled on her when he’d told the team it was his last day on the fourth floor, but she wasn’t sure if that was just wishful thinking. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the end of the workday rolled around, Leif and Tobin stopped in front of Zoey’s desk. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you want to go get wasted?” Tobin asked. She’d filled them in at lunch about the events of the last twenty four hours. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We could go dancing! Or we could get wasted on your couch!” Leif added, “either works for me, honestly.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think I’m just going to work on my Chirp assignment more tonight,” Zoey said, forcing a smile at her friends. “Thanks, though.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was about to leave when Joan called her name and gestured Zoey into her office and said, “We have a bit of paperwork we should fill out before you leave so I can get it to HR.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Paperwork?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For your promotion.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My promotion?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, Zoey,” Joan said, snapping her fingers. “For your promotion to manager of engineering. Keep up!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The confusion must have been written on Zoey’s face because next Joan said, “oh, do you not know?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m going to go with a ‘no’ to that one,” Zoey said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, I’d just assumed that Max had told you. Long story short, there was a big scandal on the sixth floor and Danny Michael Davis told Ava she needed somebody from the fourth floor to go up and manage her team. When Max heard it was either going to be him or you, he told me he would go so that you could stay here.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Joan,” Zoey said as she turned on her foot, “but I’m going to have to sign that paperwork on Monday. I have to go.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Whatever, Red! But if Susan has any problems I’m sending her straight to you!” Joan shouted at Zoey, who was already at the elevator door by the time Joan had finished the sentence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey went straight to Max’s apartment. She rang the buzzer for his apartment over and over to no avail, so she pulled out her phone and tried to call him and that went to voicemail. Defeated, Zoey decided she didn’t know what to do besides go home and hope he’d forgive her for her overreaction last night and eventually call her back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But when she got home and started making her way up the steps, she saw him sitting in front of her door again. “Max…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he saw her, he jumped up and then started singing as he moved to meet her in the middle of the stairs. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I come running to you like a moth into a flame</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You tell me take it easy but it's easier to say</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Wish I didn't need so much of you, I hate to say but I do</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She let him take her hand and lead her back up the stairs to her apartment taking one slow step at a time as he continued to sing. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>We're sleeping on our problems like we'll solve them in our dreams</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>We wake up early morning and they're still under the sheets</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I'm lost in my head, I'm spinning again, tryna find what to say to you</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The pain was clear on his face as he sang the words. They walked into her apartment and he started dancing around her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Been up all night, all night running all my lines</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>But it's only the truth</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Been up all night, not sure how to say this right</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Got so much to lose</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey knew that when the song was over he’d try to apologize again. But at this point it was unnecessary. There really was so much to lose, and she’d had enough loss this year. She wasn’t going to lose him too. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Never been so defenceless</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You just keep on building up your fences</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>But I've never been so defenceless</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She realized that was the crux of the problem: Zoey was building up walls around her heart because she felt so damn defenceless around Max. And now that she had named the problem, heartsong rules said she had to solve it—though she wasn’t sure she’d mind being “tortured” by Max’s songs for the rest of her days.  </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>No, you don't have to keep on being strong for me and you</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Acting like you feel no pain, you know, I know you do</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And I can't get inside when you're lost in your pride</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>But you don't have a thing to prove</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Max stopped his dance momentarily, walking over to Zoey and putting his hand tentatively on her cheek as he sang. God, he was really the perfect man. As the chorus started again, he resumed his dance.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Been up all night, running all my lines</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>But it's only the truth</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Been up all night, not sure how to say this right</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Got so much to lose</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Never been so defenceless</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You just keep on building up your fences</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>But I've never been so defenceless</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He walked toward Zoey again, slowing down to sing the last part of the song. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I hope that I'm not asking too much</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Just wanna be loved by you</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And I'm too tired to be tough</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Just wanna be loved by you</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When Max finished his song, Zoey couldn’t pull her eyes off of him. “Oh, god,” he said, looking at her. “I just sang to you didn’t I? I’m sorry, Zo, I…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maxwell Richman I am so incredibly in love with you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max’s mouth hung open for a second before he closed it, expression guarded. “Don’t joke about that, Zoey,” he said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not joking.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is.. serious?” he asked, “you’re in love with me?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey started to doubt herself. “I, uh… yeah?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max stood frozen a few feet from her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well say something,” she prompted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max didn’t say anything, but he did close the gap between them and press his lips against hers, and that was definitely better than saying something in Zoey’s book. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am so incredibly in love with you too, Zoey Clarke,” he said when he finally pulled away. “I have been, for forever I think. From that first say when you-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey cut his words off with her mouth on his, muttering, “Ssssssh, we don’t need to talk about CoffeeGate.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max pulled away and led her to the couch, smiling as she collapsed into his side. “But that’s part of this, of us,” he said. “We wouldn’t be us without it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Guess we’ve both fucked up a few times, huh?” Zoey said, and Max chuckled. “But think about how much time we could’ve saved if we’d just been honest with each other,” she continued. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Speaking of honesty,” he said, “I do need to apologize for not being honest with you about my transfer before. One of us had to go to the sixth floor and you’ve already had so much change this year, I thought it’d be easier for you to stay with Tobin and Leif and Joan on the fourth floor. But I know I should have talked to you about it. I don’t know why I didn’t, I guess I was scared one of us moving to the sixth floor would change everything and I wanted to avoid it for as long as possible.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know what would have been easier?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If we’d talked about it before Joan told me,” she said, teasing. Everything had already been forgiven. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max buried his head in Zoey’s chest. “Uuuuuugh, I know,” he said. “But please accept my apology so I can spend the rest of my days trying to make you happy.” The conversation had turned playful, but then Max’s voice got serious again when he said, “I just like to see you happy, Zoey.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am,” she said, and she kissed him again and again and again. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>We're almost to the end of the road! I am really hoping to finish this story before I leave for the wilderness of Wyoming tomorrow night so I don't leave you guys hanging for a week, but hopefully this will tide over any feelings of unease after last chapter :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. EpicLogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Here it is! the last ride. </p>
<p>Heartsong: Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Zoey woke up the next morning she was almost startled by the pressure across her chest, but then she opened her eyes and realized that it was just Max’s arms holding her tightly against his body. She could get used to this. </p>
<p>She did her best to slip out of his grip without waking him, tiptoeing quickly toward the bathroom—unsure of how people on tv always made the morning after life gratifying sex seem so cute. While she couldn’t actually see herself running across her room naked, she was sure it wasn’t her most flattering look. </p>
<p>She slid into a pair of pajama shorts and tanktop that were lying on the floor and then headed for the bathroom sink to brush her teeth. She didn’t get as far as actually brushing her teeth, though, because when she looked into the mirror she immediately started singing. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> All I knew, this morning when I woke </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Is I know something now, know something now I didn't before </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> And all I've seen, since eighteen hours ago </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Is brown eyes and freckles and your smile in the back of my mind making me feel like </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Zoey threw her hand over her mouth to try to stop the sounds escaping. Was she glitching again? Why on earth was she glitching again? And how did she make it stop? But then Max appeared in the doorway and joined in. So, maybe she didn’t want it to stop… </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I just wanna know you, know you, know you </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> 'Cause all I know is we said hello and your eyes look like coming home </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> All I know is a simple name and everything has changed </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Apparently the glitch had progressed, because Zoey didn’t need the mirror to sing the heartsong any longer. The pair moved out of the bathroom and started slowly dancing as they continued. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> All I know is, you held the door </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> You'll be mine and I'll be yours </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> All I know since yesterday, yeah, is everything has changed </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Max spun Zoey around in a circle as he took the next line. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> And all my walls stood tall painted blue </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> But I'll take 'em down, take 'em down and open up the door for you </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Zoey couldn’t help but smile. Just last night he’d been singing a heartsong about putting walls up and today they were taking them all down—together. She felt the butterflies in her stomach before singing about them. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> And all I feel in my stomach is butterflies </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> The beautiful kind, making up for lost time </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Taking flight, making me feel like </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As they sang the chorus together again and danced around her apartment, Zoey realized that this glitch was different. The last time she’d glitched everything had been going wrong. Today, though, everything felt just right. She decided to enjoy it while it lasted. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> 'Cause all I know is we said hello and your eyes look like coming home </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> All I know is a simple name and everything has changed </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> All I know is you held the door and you'll be mine and I'll be yours </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> All I know since yesterday, yeah, is everything has changed </em>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>"You arrogant son of a bitch,” she screamed, turning on her foot and quickly walking away from him. </p>
<p>"Would you just stay with me?" he asked, following her. </p>
<p>"Stay with you? What for?” she asked. “Look at us, we're already fighting!"</p>
<p>"Well that's what we do! We fight! You tell me when I'm being an arrogant son of a bitch, and I tell you when you're being a pain in the ass! Which you are, 99% of the time,” he said. “I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings.  They have like a two-second rebound rate and your back doing the next pain in the ass thing."</p>
<p>"So what?"</p>
<p>"So it's not gonna be easy,” he said. “It's gonna be really hard, and we're gonna have to work at this every day but I wanna do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever. You and me, every day.”(1)</p>
<p>Tobin took a big gulp of wine and said, “I’m not crying, you’re crying!” </p>
<p>Leif, Zoey, and Max’s eyes all immediately looked over at him to see his filled with tears threatening to spill over. For the last year or so, Zoey, Max, Tobin, and Leif had been having weekly movie nights together; they alternated who picked the movie each week, and tonight was Tobin’s turn. And tonight he’d picked The Notebook. </p>
<p>“I told you,” Leif said, moving his attention to Zoey and Max. “Just wait. If you think this scene is bad, just you wait until the end.” </p>
<p>“ALLIE and NOAH are IN <em> LOVE </em>, Leif,” Tobin said. “They DIE together. You’re the weird one for not getting emotional at this work of art.” </p>
<p>Max patted Tobin’s shoulder as he got up to get more popcorn. “I’m all for healthy expressions of emotions, Tobes,” he said. “I cried for three hours straight when Endgame was released.” </p>
<p>“That’s the superhero one, right?” Zoey asked, and all three sets of eyes drilled into her very soul. </p>
<p>“Oh <em> no </em>, babe,” Max said, retreating back from the kitchen empty handed. Popcorn could wait. “Please, please, please tell me you did not just ask what Engame is.”</p>
<p>“So it’s not the superhero one?” </p>
<p>“I’m going to take that as my que to get another drink,” Leif said with a sigh, getting up off the couch and pausing the movie while heading toward the kitchen. For all his big talk about Tobin, Leif sure didn’t seem to want to miss a minute. </p>
<p>“I guess we’re going to have to do a Marvel deepdive for the next several movie nights,” Max said with a sigh. “I cannot believe we’ve been dating for over a year and this conversation has never come up.” </p>
<p>“Well you all can pick what you want,” Zoey said, “but don’t expect me to waste my turn on it.” </p>
<p>“Did you just say <em> waste </em>?” Max said, fake hurt evident in his eyes. Zoey and Max started lightly bickering back and forth about Marvel and consequently movies in general. </p>
<p>Tobin looked over at them with a smirk. Even when they bickered they did it with more love than Tobin had ever witnessed in any other couple he’d been around. “Leeeeeeeiiiif, hurry up with those refills,” Tobin called to the kitchen. “Mom and Dad are fighting again!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Quotes "You arrogant son of a bitch...(through)... I want all of you, forever. You and me, every day" taken from The Notebook movie.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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